U18 Real Betis Energia Plus Seville gave up a 14-point lead but ended up beating U18 Cibona Zagreb 72-69 and will play for third place at the EUROLEAGUE BASKETBALL ADIDAS NEXT GENERATION TOURNAMENT Qualifying Tournament Coin. Andrzej Pluta hit the decisive layup with 28 seconds while scoring 28 points to lead Betis, which finished Group B in second place at 2-1 and will face U18 Movistar Estudiantes Madrid for third place. Tomas Balciunas added 12 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals in the victory. Cibona took third in the group at 1-2 despite Dino Bistrovic scoring 26 points while Kresimir Nikic collected 20 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 blocks. Cibona will face U18 USK Future Stars Prague for fifth place.

Bistrovic picked up four points as Cibona led 6-10. Balciunas countered with six points in a 13-0 spurt as Betis grabbed the lead 19-10. Nikic stopped a nearly 4 minute scoreless stretch and Cibona trailed 23-16 after 10 minutes. Pluta and Cayetano Abreu both knocked down three-pointers as Betis increased the gap to 30-18. Cibona pulled close again thanks to the long ball as Bistrovic sandwiched three-pointers around a triple from Antonio Jularic to make it 35-31 at intermission. Balciunas started hot in the second half with four points as the lead was up to 41-31. Luka Cvitanovic and Bistrovic tried to keep Cibona close, trailing 52-44. Pluta answered though with four points in an 8-2 spurt for a 60-46 advantage. And the gap was 62-48 after three quarters. Cibona once again got hot from outside with Jularic and Bistrovic both nailing two three-pointers in 7-21 surge which was completed with two Bistrovic free throws to knot the game at 69-69 with 38 seconds left. Pluta hit a driving layup high off the glass with 28 seconds left to go up 71-69 and after Jularic’s three-pointer went in and out, Pluta split two free throws with 3.3 seconds for the win.