Ludwigsburg overcomes Promitheas for second win

U18 Porsche Ludwigsburg finished second in Group B of the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Munich after registering a thrilling 95-88 victory over U18 Promitheas Patras. Tyreese Blunt tallied 23 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals as Ludwigsburg improved to 2-1 and will place for third place in the Munich tournament. Cristian Cotoara contributed 18 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 3 blocks while Ralph Hounnou scored 15 points, Nico Santana Mojica added 12 points and Aleksa Kovacevic chipped in 11 points, 6 assists and 9 steals. Ludwigsburg out-rebounded Promitheas 42-28 including 21 offensive rebounds. Promitheas dropped to 1-2 in the group despite Lefteris Mantzoukas scoring 35 points with 13 rebounds and 6 assists for a PIR of 42 while Christos Kafezas scored 26 points. Mantzoukas’ showing came just hours after he broke the ANGT single game scoring record with 49 points against U18 ALBA Berlin.

Mantzoukas’s first basket had Promitheas ahead 4-8 before Ludwigsburg was first to pull away at 16-8 after 12 straight points. Hounnou converted a three-play and Santana nailed a triple as Ludwigsburg led 24-15. Santana added a second long ball as the German side led 31-20 after 10 minutes. Mantzoukas tallied six points as Promitheas trimmed the gap to 34-30. He added a three-point play and triple to get the Greek side within 38-36. Ludwigsburg punched back with an 11-0 run to move ahead 53-39 and the margin was 58-46 at the break. Hounnou picked up four points for Ludwigsburg as the cushion grew to 69-54. Kafezas drained two triples in a 0-11 spurt as Promitheas remained in the game down just 70-68. Ludwigsburg was able to extend the lead to 77-71 after three quarters. Kafezas hit a three-ball and converted an and-one to help Promitheas get back within 82-79. Hounnou countered with two baskets and Ludwigsburg was back up 90-82. Mantzoukas added four more points to get Promitheas within 90-86, but Blunt’s basket made it 93-86 with 27 seconds left.