U18 Maccabi Teddy Tel Aviv snatched the final spot in the semifinals at the Euroleague Basketball ADIDAS NEXT GENERATION TOURNAMENT Qualifying Tournament – Torneig de Bàsquet Junior Ciutat de L'Hospitalet by defeating U18 Union Olimpija Ljubljana 82-75. Maccabi picked the perfect time to collect its first victory of the tournament and move into a three-way tie with Olimpija and U18 FIATC Joventut Badalona with 1-2 records. Maccabi, which had lost nine straight games in the competition dating back to the 2012-13 season, won the tiebreaker thanks to its win over Olimpija. Yovel Zoosman collected 19 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 8 steals and 2 blocks to lead the way. Amit Ebo drained 5 of his 6 three-pointers in the first quarter in scoring 28 points, while Ido Flaisher had 21 points and 11 rebounds for Maccabi, which moves into a semifinal date with U18 FC Barcelona Lassa. Olimpija could have afforded a loss by 1 point and still advanced to the semis, but could not get the job done. Gaber Ozegovic led the way with 20 points, while Matic Vesel had 17 points and Jan Strmcnick scored 15 points in the loss.

Vesel opened the game for Olimpija and was answered by a three-point play from Ebo. The lead changed hands four times in the next three minutes with Ebo’s first three-pointer making it 10-8. After Zoosman pushed the lead to 16-10, Ziga Jurcek nailed a three-pointer to make it a 3-point game. Ebo however knocked down three-pointers on his next 4 shots and Maccabi led 28-20 after 10 minutes. Nik Dragan started the scoring in the second quarter for Olimpija, which got 5 straight points from Ozegovic and a three-point play from Strmcnick to get the deficit down to 32-30. The Slovenian team was still within 2 when Maccabi pulled away. In an 11-0 run over final 2:51 minutes of first half, Zoosman collected 9 points and 3 steals to send Maccabi into the locker room up 49-36.

Ozegovic scored Olimipija’s first 6 points of the second half to pull within 53-41. But the Slovenian team was held scoreless for the next three minutes during which Zoosman turned a steal into a layup and Ebo nailed another three-pointer to help Maccabi pull away again, 61-41. Maccabi scored just a single basket over the next three minutes to allow Olimpija to creep back into the game; Vesel scored 7 points to pull Olimpija within 65-53. Flaisher answered with a three-point play and Maccabi led 68-57 after 30 minutes. Zoosman pushed the cushion to 73-59 and an Ebo free throw made it 75-59 with five minutes to play. Olimpija tried to make it interesting with a Dragan put-back and a Strmcnick three-point play to cut the gap to 76-66 with three minutes remaining. Ozegovic followed with a three-pointer and a put-back and Strmcnick’s free throws got Olimpija to within 78-73. But Zoosman blocked Strmcnick’s layup attempt with 50 seconds to play and Adam Ben Bassat hit an open layup at the other end to decide the game for good.