Zaragoza outlasts Fenerbahce for fifth place

U18 Casademont Zaragoza blew a 20-point fourth-quarter lead, but managed to beat U18 Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul 97-89 in overtime to capture fifth place at the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Istanbul. Daniel Arjol led the way for Zaragoza with 19 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals while Alvaro Martinez scored 16 points, Gustav Knudsen had 13, Pablo Aso tallied 10 points and Aday Mara and Pavle Stosic combined for 14 points, 27 rebounds and 6 blocks. Fenerbahce saw Goktug Gucoglu drain 6 three-pointers in scoring 22 points while Berkay Yilmaz collected 21 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists, Efe Oztekin added 11 points and 10 rebounds, Sayhan Yetkin had 11 points and Baran Aslan chipped in 10 points, 9 assists and 4 steals.

Aso scored 6 points as Zaragoza went up 10-7 early on. Yilmaz hit a three-pointer to help Fenerbahce to a 12-16 edge. Arjol countered with 5 points and Zaragoza led 23-20 after 10 minutes. Gucoglu snak a triple and Yilmaz drained two from deep to keep Fenerbahce close at 35-32. Zaragoza closed the first half with the final 8 points and went into the break ahead 43-32.

Antonio Moreno scored 4 points early in the second half in an 8-0 spurt to increase the advantage to 51-34 and then Arjol drained 2 triples in a 10-0 surge over 4 minutes as the advantage grew to 61-38. The Zaragoza lead was 61-42 after 30 minutes. Zaragoza appeared to have the game in hand after Arjol’s basket to make it 66-46 with just under 8 minutes left. But Gucoglu nailed three three-pointers in a 2-18 run to pull within 68-64. After Gucoglu tied the game 73-73, Mara and Knudsen scored on back-to-back possessions to make it 77-73. Aslan answered with a three-pointer and after Josep Cera and Maya both split two free throws, Gucoglu nailed another triple with 6.9 seconds to knot the game at 79-79 and send it to overtime. Eren Deniz twice put Fenerbahce ahead in the extra session, but Arjol answered with two scores and Lucas Langarita added a dagger three-pointer in a 13-0 run for a 94-83 lead with 49 seconds left.