U18 CSKA Moscow nearly wasted a 22-point lead but held on to beat U18 Canarias Basketball Academy Las Palmas 74-79 in the opening game of the EUROLEAGUE BASKETBALL ADIDAS NEXT GENERATION TOURNAMENT Kaunas. Alexander Khomenko scored 18 points with 4 assists while Vasilii Posrednikov collected 12 points, 5 rebounds and 4 blocks in the Group B win. CSKA will have a second game later Thursday against U18 VEF Riga. CBA was paced by 28 points and 9 assists from Diego Willis. CBA’s second contest Thursday in Group B will be against host team U18 Zalgiris Kaunas.

CBA went inside early to Li Shengzhe for 5 points and got 5 points from Danilo Brnovic in leading 14-13. CSKA answered by holding CBA scoreless for the final 3:23 minutes of the first quarter and Posrednikov nailed 2 three-pointers as CSKA was leading 14-25 after 10 minutes. Khomenko added 2 three-pointers as CSKA led 15-35 following a 1-22 run. The lead increased to 22 points before Willis scored the final 5 points of the first half to get CBA to within 30-47 at halftime. Willis continued his strong game with three-pointers to bookend a 12-0 run as CBA cut the deficit to 48-52. Khomenko helped CSKA regain control and the advantage was 50-61 after three quarters. CSKA remained in control with the lead at 57-71 with under 5 minutes to play. But Li and Brnovic led a 15-4 surge to trim the margin to 72-75 with 1 minute left. Khomenko however hit all four of his free throws in the final 19 seconds to seal the victory.