Alba Berlin tipped off the Ciutat de L'Hospitalet tournament with an impressive 81-52 victory over Estudiantes in Group B on Monday afternoon in L'Hospitalet, Spain. Estudiantes will face Regal FC Barcelona to close the Day 1 games in hope to save its chances to finish first and play the semi-finals on Wednesday. L'Hospitalet tournament is the second of four qualifying games to decide the participants in the annual Nike International Junior Tournament which is held during the Euroleague Final Four weekend for the 8th year in a row. Alba made a run late in the first period but it was a second quarter boost that made a difference when Estudianted collected no more than 6 points on the way to a 46-21 half time score, enough to decide the game. Julius Wolf led Alba with 20 points he scored in a 15 minutes stretch, Erik Mueller added 13 in 11 minutes while Sebastian Fulle scored 11. Alvaro Lobo with 13 points and Jaime Fernandez with 11 led the losing side. Alba connected 10 three balls in 41% and forced 20 turnovers to have the upper hand.

Wolf scored his first bucket late in the first quarter, but just when Alba was ready to make a run and finish the first 10 minutes up 24-15. Quickly inside the second quarter he already reached 9 points, only to see Fernandez score a lay up and set the score on 28-19 after 13 minutes, but that was also when Estudiantes faced the stop sign. Until the half time break the Madrid club added only two free throws, while Alba scored from anywhere on the court to write an 18-2 run as Wolf already collected 15 points. Early in the second half Fulle joined Wolf and Alba reached the 30 point barrier, 53-23 and deep in the third 66-33. Alba used its back ups to rest the leading line-up, yet the gap still increased until Estudiantes cut six points before the buzzer and lost by 29.