U18 Cibona Zagreb wasted a 13-point lead, but came back to beat U18 FC Bayern Munich 70-66 in its opening game at the EUROLEAGUE BASKETBALL ADIDAS NEXT GENERATION TOURNAMENT Qualifying Tournament Coin. Dino Bistrovic scored 18 points, including a clutch three-pointer, while Kresimir Nikic collected 17 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks in the Group B game. Marko Pecarski led Bayern with 16 points to go with 24 rebounds, but they were not enough. Pecarski’s 24 rebounds tied the record for the most in an ANGT game with Jonas Valanciunas of U18 Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius from 2010.

Nikic opened the game with the first 4 points for Cibona. The lead was 12-6 before Bayern scored two straight baskets, but Luka Cvitanovic tallied the final 7 points of the first quarter for a 19-10 Cibona advantage. Bistrovic and Matej Rudan both knocked down threes as the cushion grew to 27-14. Julius Dueh came off the Bayern bench with 6 points inside and the gap was down to 38-28 at the intermission. Bistrovic started the second half with a three-pointer and Cibona was up 43-30. Pecarski began to control the game on the boards, while also picking up 7 points as Bayern closed the third quarter on a 4-18 run to go ahead 47-48 thanks to Quirin Huber-Saffer’s shot at the buzzer. Bayern continued the run in the fourth quarter and jumped ahead 50-56. Cibona answered with the next 7 points to pull back ahead 59-58. Pecarski nailed a big three-pointer at the other end and Bruno Vrcic gave Bayern a 62-66 lead with just over a minute left. Bistrovic answered with free throws and then a big three-pointer with 13.2 seconds to play to put Cibona up 67-66. Bayern turned the ball over twice in the final 12 seconds and Cibona got the win.