Crvena Zvezda tops ALBA Berlin by 28 points

Five players scored in double figures as reigning ADIDAS NEXT GENERATION TOURNAMENT champion Crvena Zvezda Telekom Belgrade started the defense of its crown with a convincing 96-64 victory over ALBA Berlin to start the Belgrade qualifying event. Aleksandar Aranitovic led Crvena Zvezda with 16 points while Nikola Rakicevic had 14 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals. Nikola Popovic and David Miladinovic both scored 13 points and Stefan Kenic added 10 points for Crvena Zvezda, which tops Group A with a 1-0 record. Berlin dropped to 0-1 in Group A despite Moses Poelking scoring 13 points and Julius During adding 11 points.

Berlin jumped ahead with the first 4 points of the game. But Zvezda came up with the next 11 points – including 4 points each from Miladinovic and Rakicevic. Poelking had cut the lead to 11-10 when Vojislav Stojanovic came into the game and dished 2 assists and scored a basket himself in a 12-2 run as Zvezda went up 23-12. The Zvezda lead was 26-14 after 10 minutes. ALBA trimmed the gap to 28-17 before Zvezda went on another spurt for a 37-19 advantage. The host club increased the margin, and it was 20 points for the first time at 49-29. Berlin scored five of the last six points of the half to trail 50-35 at halftime.

Poelking got the deficit down to 50-37 to start the second half but Borisa Simanic nailed two three-pointers as Crvena Zvezda pulled ahead 58-37. Berlin tried to stay close as During’s three-ball made it 60-47. But the advantage was back out to 21 points on an Aranitovic basket to make it 70-49. And an Aleksa Radanov three-pointer inside the final 30 seconds of the end of the third quarter had Crvena Zvezda up 75-50 after 30 minutes. Rakicevic started the fourth with a three-ball and the cushion grew to 33 points on a Miladinovic dunk for 85-52 lead. ALBA was able to get to within 87-60, but the German club would not get closer the rest of the way.