U18 Alba Berlin roared back from a 25-point deficit to beat U18 Buducnost VOLI Podgorica 87-92 for its first victory in Group A of the ADIDAS NEXT GENERATION TOURNAMENT Qualifying Tournament - Marko Ivkovic Belgrade. Ferdinand Zylka poured in 23 points while Philipp Herkenhoff had 20 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists to lead Alba, which improved to 1-1 and next faces U18 Crvena Zvezda Telekom Belgrade. Rijad Avdic added 15 points for Alba while Lucas Skibbe chipped in 10 points. Buducnost dropped to 0-2 despite 34 points and 19 rebounds from Milos Popovic while Andrija Slavkovic scored 33 points. Buducnost lost point guard Ognjen Carapic to injury after the first quarter, in which he had 6 points and 7 assists.

Popovic opened the game with the first basket with Filip Stanic hitting a free throw for Alba at the other end and Herkenhoff’s put-back evening the game at 4-4. Buducnost went on a 15-0 run over the next 3:28 minutes with Slavkovic converting a three-point play and hitting 2 three-pointers for a 19-4 lead. Alexander Moeller’s put-back stopped the run but Popovic and Slavkovic nailed three-balls to push the lead to 25-7. Skibbe scored 5 points in a 1-7 spurt as Alba got to within 26-14. But Milos Vujovic knocked down a triple for Buducnost and the gap was 33-15 after 10 minutes. Buducnost hit the first 4 points of the second quarter to increase the lead to 22 points. Another Slavkovic triple had the lead up to 40-17. Avdic converted a three-point play for Alba but Slavkovic pushed the gap to 45-20. Alba countered with a 1-8 spurt to cut the deficit to 46-28. Buducnost was up 53-31 at intermission.

Popovic opened the second half with 2 free throws to make it 55-31. Five straight Alba points made it 55-36 but Nikola Vujovic hit 2 foul shots for a 58-38 advantage. Alba charged back into the game as Herkenhoff scored 11 points in an 0-13 run to make it 58-51. Popovic stopped the drought with 2 free throws but Moeller scored to trim the deficit to 60-55. Slavkovic answered at the other end with a big three-pointer as Buducnost moved out ahead 66-55. Zylka knocked down a trey as Alba trailed 67-62 after 30 minutes. Popovic pushed the lead to 69-62 with 2 free throws but that did not stop the Alba momentum as Avdvic got out on the break to tie the game at 69-69 and then gave Alba the lead with Zylka making it 69-73. Zylka’s three-pointer increased the Alba margin to 71-78. and Herkenhoff’s dunk off a steal left Alba ahead 74-82. Buducnost answered with the next 9 points to reclaim the lead 83-82. Zylka followed with back-to-back three-balls to put Alba up 85-88 with 2 minutes to play. Buducnost made just 2 of 6 free throws to pull within 87-88 with 22 seconds left. Skibbe iced the game with 2 free throws with 21 seconds to play.