U18 Porsche Basketball Academy Ludwigsburg remained alive in the race for the final of the EUROLEAGUE BASKETBALL ADIDAS NEXT GENERATION TOURNAMENT Qualifying Tournament Marko Ivkovic Belgrade with a 71-56 victory over U18 Stellazzurra Basketball Academy. Mateo Seric had a big game to lead Ludwigsburg with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Malik Kudic drained 5 three-pointers in scoring 19 points as Ludwigsburg improved to 1-1 in Group A. Ludwigsburg will finish Group A play on Saturday against U18 Partizan NIS Belgrade. Stellazzurra also has a 1-1 record after the loss despite Lazar Nikolic scoring 18 points. Stellazzurra’s final group game will be against U18 Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade.

Michele Ebeling’s three-point play opened the game for Stellazzurra. Seric converted a three-point play as well for Ludwigsburg’s first lead 5-4. The lead changed hands three times with Ebeling’s jumper making it 7-8. Ludwigsburg would tie it at 9-9 before Nikolic drained a three-pointer and Stellazzurra was up 10-13 after 10 minutes. The gap was 12-16 after a Michele Serpilli three-pointer. Seric scored eight straight points and Ludwigsburg held Stellazzurra to just one basket over a 7-minute streak for a 13-2 run and a 25-18 lead. Thorben Doeding also knocked down a three-ball and Seric scored again as Ludwigsburg was up 30-22 at the break. Ludwigsburg started to pull away in the third quarter thanks to the hot hand of Kudic, who nailed all four of his three-point attempts as the lead grew to 45-31. Nikolic tried to keep Stellazzurra in the game with three baskets while Quirin Emanga nailed a triple for Ludwigsburg, which led 53-40 after 30 minutes. Stellazzurra scored the first six points of the fourth quarter to cut the gap to 53-46. But Seric knocked down another three-pointer and added two more baskets as the advantage swelled to 69-50. There was only two minutes left at that point and Stellazzurra couldn’t threaten the rest of the way.