U18 Zemun Belgrade came back from a 25-point deficit to beat U18 Buducnost VOLI Podgorica 85-86 to clinch seventh place at the ADIDAS NEXT GENERATION TOURNAMENT Qualifying Tournament - Marko Ivkovic Belgrade. Pavle Mihajloski collected 19 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists while Aleksa Kojadinovic and Aleksa Birovljev both scored 16 points and Milos Janjic added 11 points in Zemun’s first victory of the tournament. Buducnost lost for the second time in the tournament after leading by 25 points - the first time against U18 Alba Berlin. Milos Popovic picked up 22 points and 11 rebounds while Andrija Slavkovic had 22 points, Nikola Vujovic collected 19 points and 11 rebounds and Filip Nikcevic added 9 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 blocks in the defeat.

Vuk Staric opened the scoring for Zemun with Igor Drobnjak hitting at the other end and Popovic giving Buducnost its first lead 4-2. Mihajloski’s triple pushed Zemun back ahead 6-7 before a triple from Drobnjak. Slavkovic tallied 4 points to push Buducnost ahead 18-10. And the Montenegro side was leading 19-14 after 10 minutes. Nikola and Milos Vujovic both scored as Buducnost hit the first 6 points of the second quarter for a 25-14 lead. Janjic finally scored for Zemun after more than 2 minutes of action. Two Popovic free throws gave Buducnost its first double-digit lead and Slavkovic’s three-pointer increased the advantage to 30-18. Nikola Vujovic hit 4 points in a 6-0 spurt to put Buducnost up 36-20. The cushion swelled to 17 points on Popovic’s basket and it was 50-27 at intermission as Buducnost hit the final 8 points.

Popovic started the second half scoring to increase the lead to 25 points - 52-27. Aleksa Ilic knocked down a three-ball to start a 0-7 spurt and get Zemun to within 52-34. Slavkovic’s trey made it 57-36. Kojadinovic followed with a three-pointer and Marko Lukic converted a three-point play in a 2-8 Zemun run as the Serbian club trailed 61-46. Lukic added another basket and Zemun was down 66-53 after 30 minutes. Zemun continued its run in the fourth quarter with the first 7 points to get the deficit into single digits 68-60. Nikola Vujovic finally scored for Buducnost and added a three-pointer to get the lead back to 73-62. Zemun hit the next 5 points to make it a 6 point game and Buducnost still led by 8 points 82-74 on Popovic’s put-back with 3 minutes left. Zemun used a 0-7 run to even the game at 84-84 on 2 Aleksa Birovljev free throws with 1:15 minutes to play. Birovljev twice split 2 free throws to give Zemun an 84-86 lead. Drobnjak missed a potential game-tying layup with 3 seconds left but Popovic grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 1.2 seconds to play. Popovic made the first but missed the second as Zemun secured the come-from-behind victory.