U18 Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius survived a battle of past continental champions to open Group B of the Euroleague Basketball ADIDAS NEXT GENERATION TOURNAMENT Qualifying Tournament – Kaunas with a 72-74 win over U18 INSEP Paris. Grantas Vasiliauskas collected 13 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists while Matas Jogela had 13 points and Aitis Pilauskas scored 10 points for the 2012 champion. Tadas Vaiciunas chipped in 5 points, including the game-winning basket for Rytas with 5 seconds to play. The 2010 champion INSEP was paced by the 15-year-old Sekou Doumbouya, who had 16 points, 7 rebounds and 3 blocks, including 4 points and a block in the final 43 seconds in the loss. Bathiste Tchouaffe added 13 points and Sofiane Briki had 11 points with Jaylen Hoard chipping in 9 points and 8 rebounds.

Jogela opened the game for Rytas while Tchouaffe nailed a three-ball to start the scoring for INSEP. Pilauskas knocked down a triple of his own to even the game at 5-5. Neither side could pull away in the first five minutes with the game even at 11-11. Vitalijus Kozys scored 4 points to build an 11-17 lead. Two Hoard free throws trimmed the margin to 17-21 before Paulius Poska and Pilauskas both drained three-pointers to increase the lead to 17-27. INSEP had it down to 21-27 after 10 minutes. Lukas Kisunas and Vasiliauskas scored to open the second quarter and push the gap back to 10 points. Nicolas Dorez finally hit INSEP’s first points of the frame after nearly 4 minutes of action and Timothe Vergiat followed with a three-pointer and Olivier Sarr had 2 free throws to pull within 29-31. Vaicunas answered with a three-pointer to start a 2-7 spurt to move ahead 31-38. And Pilauskas added another basket just before the break to give Rytas a 32-40 cushion at intermission.

Jogela scored two baskets to start the second half and increase the gap to 33-45, but Doumbouya and Briki both hit three-pointers to get the French club to within 39-45. The advantage was still 45-52 when INSEP used a 9-0 spurt to nose ahead 54-52 on Ivan Fevrier’s three-pointer. Vasiliauskas gave Rytas back the lead with a three-pointer after a timeout and the game was deadlocked at 57-57 after 30 minutes. A Fevrier three-pointer helped INSEP inch ahead 64-59 but Rytas kept the French side scoreless for 3 minutes and Jogela got the margin to 64-63 midway through the fourth quarter. Timothee Bazille got out on the break and Tchouaffe hit 2 free throws to make it 68-63. INSEP came up empty on its next 6 possessions and watched as Rtyas pulled closer and then took lead 68-70 on Vasilauskas’s three-pointer with 57 seconds left. Doumbouya snapped a 3:35-minute scoreless stretch with 2 free throws, which were matched by Vasilauskas’s foul shots. Doumbouya came back down and evened the game 72-72 on a layup with 25 seconds left and then blocked Pilauskas’s shot with 5 seconds left. But Vaiciunas was quickest to the loose ball and put it back in to put Rytas up 72-74. And Vergiat missed his attempt at the buzzer to give Rytas the win.