Unicaja outlasts ASVEL, to play for third place

U18 Unicaja Malaga will play for third place at the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Valencia after defeating U18 LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne 66-70 in the final game of group play. Bernhard Edokpayi scored 14 points for Unicaja, which finished Group B with a 2-1 record. Rafa Santos picked up 10 points including 2 free throws with 5.1 seconds left to ice the game. Zaccharie Risacher came off the bench with 18 points and 7 rebounds for ASVEL, which will play for fifth place after a 1-2 record in the group. Kenny Kasiama and Kymany Houinsou both scored 16 points in the loss.

Kasiama had the first 6 points as ASVEL went ahead 8-2 before Unicaja went on a 3-14 run that included three-pointers from Pierre Sene and Santos for an 11-16 lead. The gap was 17-21 after 10 minutes. Pablo Leon scored 4 points as Unicaja tallied the first 8 points of the second quarter for a 17-29 lead. Louis Pinon's three-point play finally got ASVEL on the board in the quarter and Risacher had 5 points as ASVEL was within 29-35 at intermission.

Risacher's three-pointer opened the second half only to see Unicaja reel off 9 straight points for a 32-44 lead. Houinsou responded with 8 points in a 12-2 ASVEL run to pull within 44-48 after 30 minutes. Unicaja hit the first 4 points of the final quarter to extend the gap to 44-52. ASVEL would not go away, however, with Risacher and Hugo Desseignet hitting three-pointers before Desseignet’s floater put the French side up 63-62. Daniil Shelist responded with back-to-back baskets and Pablo Tamba made it 63-68 for Unicaja with 29 seconds left. Risacher would not let his team go down without a fight, hitting another three-pointer with 13 seconds to pull within 66-68. Santos calmly knocked down two free throws with 5.1 seconds left to ice the game.