Reigning continental champion U18 Real Madrid is one victory from the 2015-16 Euroleague Basketball ADIDAS NEXT GENERATION TOURNAMENT Finals as it defeated U18 Brose Baskets Bamberg 64-52 in the first semifinal Wednesday at the EB ANGT Qualifying Tournament – Torneig de Bàsquet Junior Ciutat de L'Hospitalet. Felipe Dos Anjos led Madrid with 15 points and 4 rebounds while Dino Radoncic collected 10 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists and Ignacio Ballespin added 14 points on 4 three-pointers. Madrid’s defense was the difference, forcing Bamberg into 24 turnovers while losing the ball just 13 times in the game. Madrid, which shot just 38 percent for the game, will next face the winner of the second semifinal between U18 Maccabi Teddy Tel Aviv and U18 FC Barcelona Lassa. Bamberg got 16 points from Arnoldas Kulboka while Isaac Bonga had 12 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists but also 8 turnovers and Lars Lagerpusch scored 10 points.
Bamberg grabbed an early 0-6 lead before Dos Anjos finally scored for Madrid. A Kulboka three-pointer had Bamberg up 4-11 before Ballespin answered with a three-ball of his own. A trio of Bamberg turnovers and another Ballespin long ball had Madrid ahead 12-11 – forcing a Bamberg time out. After opening the game with its first 6 shots inside the three-point line, Bamberg could not get anything inside, taking its last 4 shots of the quarter from long range while turning the ball over 6 times in the period. Radoncic and German Ali-Kazanzi both scored in the final minute of the quarter for Madrid, which led 16-11 after 10 minutes. Francisco Salvador’s free throws extended the Madrid run to 14-0 as the champs went up 18-11. Lagerpusch’s free throws finally snapped Bamberg’s 8:28-minute scoreless drought and Matthias Fichtner’s three-pointer made it 20-16. The German side then held Madrid without a point for 3 minutes and Bonga’s three-point play trimmed the difference to 22-21. But Dos Anjos punched back with a three-point play of his own, and Ballespin was on target twice from long range in an 11-0 spurt to extend the advantage to 33-21. Bonga stopped the run with 4 straight points but Madrid was up 35-25 at intermission.
Free throws by Lagerpusch and Kulboka cut the deficit to 36-29 but Bamberg could not get baskets against Madrid, which produced 9 free throws as well as a steal and fastbreak layup from Acoydan McCarthy in a 13-0 run over 3:47 minutes to go up 49-29. Sanders’s jumper ended the run but McCarthy came back down for a three-pointer at 52-31 to force a Bamberg time out. Kulboka came out of the break with a three-pointer and added 2 free throws to make it 54-36. But Bamberg still could not get anything going on offense with 4 misses and 2 turnovers in the final 3 minutes of the third quarter and Madrid was up 54-36 after 30 minutes. Lagerpusch scored the first basket of the fourth quarter but the gap was 58-38 after Samba Ndiaye’s score with 7 minutes to play. Bamberg was finally able to string together baskets, hitting on 4 of 5 possessions to cut the deficit to 58-46 with 4 minutes remaining. Ndiaye converted for Madrid at the other end and Dos Anjos’ score had the champs ahead 62-48 with 1:27 minutes left to put the game out of reach.
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
David Hein, Euroleague.net