Joventut fends off Unicaja, sets up first-place date with Barcelona

U18 Joventut Badalona will face off against local rival U18 FC Barcelona in the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Valencia first-place game after knocking off U18 Unicaja Malaga 60-55. Conrad Martinez came off the Joventut bench for 14 points and 5 assists as the 2013 continental champion improved to 2-0 in Group B. Ruben De Oliveira added 12 points and 7 rebounds and Iker Montero pitched in 10 points. The Joventut starting five was held to 21 points but the team prevailed and will battle Barcelona for a spot at the ANGT Finals at the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four in Cologne, Germany in May 2021. Bernhard Edokpayi tallied 18 points for Unicaja, which fell to 1-1.

Unicaja jumped ahead 0-8 with four different players scoring before Guillem Vazquez hit a three-pointer to get Joventut on the board after more than 3 minutes. Pablo Tamba netted 5 points as Unicaja increased the lead to 5-15 before Joventut closed to within 10-16 after 10 minutes. Edokpayi made it 12-18 for Unicaja, but Joventut picked up its defense and went on an 11-2 run to take a 23-20 lead. Edokpayi was Unicaja’s main answer with 5 straight points to move back ahead 28-29. Jordi Rodriguez and Omar Thiam hit three-pointers at the other end as Joventut went up 34-29 and led 34-32 at intermission.

Montero tallied 5 points early in the second half as Joventut was up 40-36 to which Unicaja replied with the next 5 points to take the lead 40-41 on Pierre Sene’s three-pointer. There were three more lead changes the rest of the quarter and Joventut led 46-45 going into the final 10 minutes. Alvaro Fernandez opened the fourth quarter with a three-pointer for Unicaja, but De Oliveira scored 4 points as Joventut answered with a 7-0 run over the next 6 minutes to push ahead 53-48. Daniil Shelist and Edokpayi cut the gap to 2, but Vazquez and De Oliveira had answers and then Rafa Santos's free throws brought Unicaja within 57-55 with 38 seconds to play. Miguel Allen answered with a dunk off a pass from Martinez with 20 seconds remaining and Sene missed a three-pointer at the other end.