Reyer pick up first win over Zaragoza

U18 Umana Reyer Venice collected its first victory at the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Kaunas by rolling past debutant U18 Casademont Zaragoza 85-69 in Group A. Davide Casarin tallied 29 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists and 5 steals and Nicola Berdini picked up 25 points, 4 assists and 3 steals as Reyer improved to 1-1. Gustav Knudsen had 14 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 blocks for Zaragoza, which dropped to 0-2 as it committed 23 turnovers. Sebastian Andersson chipped in 10 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocks.

Alvaro Martinez started the game strong with six points and Zaragoza was up 7-10. Reyer stepped up its game though with Berdini hitting a long ball and Casarin scoring eight points in a 16-3 finish to the first quarter and a 23-13 lead. Francesco Cravero extended the gap to 12 points at 25-13 to start the second quarter before Zaragoza trimmed it to 32-23. But the Spanish club could not stop Casarin, who had 11 points in helping push the margin to 47-28 and it was 47-31 at the break. Zaragoza tried to get back into the game with Daniel Arjol scoring eight points and the deficit was 56-46. Berdini answered with a three-ball and added five more points in the quarter and Reyer was up 68-56 after 30 minutes. Akos Kovacs scored Reyer’s first seven points of the fourth quarter and the advantage was 77-58. Zaragoza did manage five straight points but Alessio Bolpin drained a triple and the lead was 80-63.