Zaragoza fights back from 16 down for first ever ANGT win

U18 Casademont Zaragoza captured its first victory in the history of the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament as it came back from 16 points down to beat U18 Basket Brno 73-59 in Group A of the ANGT Istanbul. Josep Cera poured in 20 points for the Spanish team, which finished the game on an 18-2 run to improve to 1-2 in the group. Alvaro Martinez scored 19 points and Daniel Arjol added 18 points as Zaragoza will play for fifth place on Sunday. The Spanish club lost all four games at the ANGT Kaunas in the 2019-20 season. Debutant Brno failed to collect its first win in the competition as it fell apart in the fourth quarter, scoring just 8 points in the final 10 minutes. Ondrej Hustak tallied 14 points with 9 rebounds and Jakub Necas collected 13 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists in the defeat.

The game was knotted at 4-4 when Aday Mara scored four points in an 8-0 run to put Zaragoza up 12-4. Matej Safarik answered with seven points for Brno in pulling to within 14-11 and it was 16-13 after 10 minutes. Brno kept Zaragoza scoreless for the first 2 minutes of the second quarter and moved ahead 16-19. Matej Rychtecky converted a three-point play and Lukas Olbort hit a three-pointer as the advantage grew to 21-26. And a Necas triple increased the gap to 26-33 at halftime.

Brno opened the second half with the first nine points to increase the lead to 26-42. Cera converted a three-point play to start a 10-0 run over 4 minutes to get Zaragoza within 39-44. And the score was 47-51 after 30 minutes. Petr Krivanek’s basket made it 52-55 and it was 55-57 after Rychtecky’s score. But Zaragoza shut down the Brno offense, not giving up a basket in the final 5 minutes and closing the game on an 18-2 run for the win.