Valencia take ANGT Valencia title, secure first trip to ANGT Finals

U18 Valencia Basket reached the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Finals for the first time in club history by winning the ANGT Qualifier Valencia with an 82-71 victory over U18 Virtus Bologna. The host side Valencia got 20 points, 3 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals from Marc Garcia, while Alejandro Ruiz scored 14 points, Alonso Faure had 12 and Alfonso Ribera chipped in 9 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocks. Valencia, which did not lose a game in the tournament, was playing in the competition for just the third time following the 2007-08 and 2009-10 seasons. The victory guaranteed Valencia a spot at the ANGT Finals at the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four in May in Vitoria-Gasteiz. Virtus was hindered by its 22 turnovers. Gabriele Procida led the way in defeat with 20 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals and Matteo Nicoli added 20 points. Lorenzo Deri netted 14 points and 6 assists, but big man Gora Camara was held to just 8 points and 8 rebounds and fouled out having played just 19 minutes.

In front of a crowd of about 1,600 fans at Pabellon Fuente de San Luis, Virtus struggled to get into any offensive rhythm as it made just 1 of its first 8 shots while Garcia scored 4 points for a 7-2 Valencia lead. Garcia added a three-pointer and Faure completed a three-point play among his 7 points in opening a 19-5 cushion. The first quarter ended with Valencia ahead 19-6 and having held Virtus to just 2-of-14 shooting from the field to go with 9 turnovers. Nicoli started the second quarter hot with a steal and dunk and then a jumper to make it 19-10. Valencia punched right back with back-to-back three-pointers from Garcia and Alejandro Requena. The cushion was 29-15 before Deri got hot with three baskets and Virtus closed the gap to 29-25. Valencia, however, got a triple from Guillem Ferrando and a three-point play from Ruiz to lead 37-29 at halftime. Valencia pushed the gap to 43-31 and it was 45-35 when Camara picked up two fouls within 12 seconds for 4 fouls with 7 minutes left in the third quarter. Nicoli finally hit Virtus's first three-pointer and another Nicoli score trimmed the deficit to 47-42. Valencia continued to fight and share the ball on offense and Ivan Cubero's putback made it 56-46. The score was 58-47 going into the final 10 minutes. Camara picked up his fifth foul with 8:24 minutes left in the game and Virtus down 62-51. Deri responded with 5 quick points and the gap was down to 64-56. Valencia would not break with Garcia hitting two baskets to make it 68-58. And even after threes from Nicoli and Procida, Ruiz hit from outside and Millan Jimenez converted a three-point play to make it 79-67 with under 2 minutes to go to secure the title for the home side.