Crvena Zvezda Telekom Belgrade captured its first Euroleague Basketball Nike International Junior Tournament title by beating Real Madrid 55-42 in the final Sunday at Mediolanim Forum in Milan. Hours before the Turkish Airlines Euroleague stars take the same court to play for the ultimate prize, Aleksandar Aranitovic paced Crvena Zvezda with 15 points, while Vojislav Stojanovic and Nikola Rakicevic both scored 9 points in a superb team effort by the first time finalist. Waly Niang was the only effective weapon for Madrid with 19 points and 12 rebounds, while Jonathan Kasibabu had 7 points and 8 rebounds in the loss. Crvena Zvezda is the seventh club to win the NIJT title and the second Serbian club to accomplish the feat following FMP’s back-to-back crowns in 2008 and 2009. The victory also ended Real Madrid’s hopes of becoming the first club since CSKA Moscow in 2006 to win the NIJT and Euroleague titles at the same Final Four.

Madrid went to Niang straight out of the gates and the big man helped open a 6-2 lead. Bratislav Jekovic nailed a triple for Crvena Zvezda to give the Serbian club its first lead at 9-8. Niang was one of the few weapons working for Madrid against a tough Crvena Zvezda defense. And Belgrade moved the ball offensively with Lazarevic and Nikola Rakicevic scoring to give Crvena Zvezda a 13-11 lead after one quarter. Niang completed a three-point play to start the second quarter and scored another basket for a 16-13 Madrid lead. Rakicevic hit Crvena Zvezda’s first basket of the second quarter. Niang put back an offensive rebound and hit a jumper as Madrid went up 22-17. The 16-year-old Aranitovic began to have a bigger impact on the game with a three-ball and a basket as Crvena Zvezda reeled off an 8-0 run for a 25-22 advantage. Niang stopped the spurt, but Vojislav Stojanovic nailed a triple just before the buzzer to give Crvena Zvezda a 28-24 lead at the break.

Aranitovic added two more scores early in the third quarter as Belgrade scored the first 6 points of the half for a 10-point advantage. Niang finally got Madrid on the board after three minutes without a score. Every time Madrid would score, Crvena Zvezda had an answer - from a number of players with Stojanovic, David Miladinovic, Jovan Andelkovic, Rakicevic and Marko Radovanovic all scoring, the latter making it 44-33 late in the third. Guillermo Mulero cut the deficit to 44-35 after three quarters. Jekovic started the fourth quarter with a three-ball and Aranitovic added two more baskets as Crvena Zvezda scored the first 9 points of the fourth quarter. Madrid did not score in the last period until Santiago Yusta hit with 5:44 minutes left in the game to trim it to 53-37. Crvena Zvezda slowed down the tempo offensively to milk as much time as possible and rest for defense. And the Serbian team did not allow another point until Kasibabu’s free throw with 2:10 minutes remaining to make it 53-38. But the game was long over by then.