Reigning champion Fiatc Joventut Badalona opened the defense of its NIJT title by winning its opening game of the Torneig de Básquet Júnior “Ciutat de L’Hospitalet” 73-68 victory over Brose Baskets Bamberg in Group B. Francesc Iturria sealed the game with 2 free throws with 7 seconds to play. Samuel Rodriguez paced Joventut with 12 points, while Zoran Nikolic added 11 points and an important late offensive rebound. Sergi Costa tallied 8 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals in the victory. Andreas Obst’s 6 three-pointers for 24 points to go with 7 rebounds were not enough for Bamberg, which also received 11 points and 10 rebounds from Niklas Kiel. Bamberg used a 0-8 run to open a 3-8 lead early. The German side pushed the advantage to 9-15 and was ahead the rest of the quarter, which ended 15-21. Luis Figge increased the margin to 8 and it was 23-30 when Joventut reeled off 9 straight points in a 17-2 finish of the first half, leaving the reigning champion up 40-32 at the intermission. Bamberg started the second half with a 2-9 surge to pull within 1 point. The Joventut cushion was back to 52-44 when Obst scored 8 straight points to knot the game at 52-52 after 30 minutes. Obst nailed another triple to give Bamberg a 54-57 lead. Badalona got threes from Rodriguez and Albert Real to take a 66-63 lead late. Costi split free throws with 19 seconds left with Nikolic rebounding the second foul shot. He was fouled and split two from the line for a 69-65 Joventut advantage with 15 seconds left. Obst drained his sixth three of the afternoon to cut it to 1 with 8 seconds remaining before Iturria made free throws with 7 ticks to play. The game was sealed when Obst missed his three-point attempt with 4 seconds remaining.