U18 Khimki Moscow Region picked up its first victory at the Euroleague Basketball ADIDAS NEXT GENERATION TOURNAMENT Kaunas by beating U18 VEF Riga 82-69 and will play for fifth place. Anton Alakin led the way with 25 points for Khimki, which finished Group A play with a 1-2 record in third place. Vladislav Odinokov added 18 points and 9 rebounds and Dmitrii Kadoshnikov chipped in 13 points, 11 rebounds and 4 blocks in the win. VEF dropped to 0-3 despite 14 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals from Rodrigo Bumeisters and will play for seventh place on Sunday.

Alakin scored 6 straight points to put Khimki ahead 10-3. The guard added 6 more points in pushing the lead to 23-8. Khimki was ahead 25-16 after 10 minutes. VEF trimmed the deficit to 5 points before the Russian side increased the gap to 32-22. The margin was down to 4 points late in the first half, which ended with Khimki ahead 44-38. VEF charged back in the third quarter as Matiss Surkulis scored 5 points in a 6-19 run for a 52-57 lead. But Khimki tallied the final 9 points of the quarter to lead 61-57 after 30 minutes. Khimki added the first 6 points of the fourth quarter and extended the lead to 73-59 midway through it. Oskars Hlebovickis and Bumeisters both would knock down three-pointers to pull VEF within 76-69 with 1 minute left but Kirill Studenikin answered with 2 free throws and the hole was too much for VEF.