Real knocks off Zalgiris, reaches first-place game

U18 Real Madrid advanced to the first-place game of the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Istanbul by beating U18 Zalgiris Kaunas 64-81 in a battle of two-time former U18 continental champions. The 2015 and 2019 winner Real was paced by Matteo Spagnolo with 19 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists. Eli Ndiaye tallied 17 points and 9 rebounds, Juan Nunez collected 16 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists and Urban Klavzar chipped in 10 points. Real’s opponent in Sunday’s climax will be U18 Stellazzurra Rome, a familiar foe as those two teams faced off in the ANGT Munich first-place game last season with many of the same players still on both squads. Real came to Istanbul having won the last seven qualifying tournaments in which it has competed (ANGT L’Hospitalet in 2014, 2015 and 2016, ANGT Coin in 2017 and ANGT Munich in 2018, 2019 and 2020). Zalgiris, which took the European crown in 2003 and 2007, was led by Liutauras Lelevicius with 20 points and 9 rebounds. Titas Sargiunas scored 13 points and Radvilas Kneizys had 12 points in the defeat.

Zalgiris opened the game with the first five points and held Real scoreless for nearly 2 minutes. But the Spanish power unleashed a 0-14 run over more than 4 minutes with Nunez and Ndiaye both scoring four points for a 5-14 lead. Zalgiris punched back with a 12-0 spurt over 4 minutes and went ahead 17-16. But it was Real leading after 10 minutes 17-21. The Real momentum continued in the second quarter with 10 straight points for a 17-31 advantage. Kneizys finally got Zalgiris on the board after more than 3 minutes with a three-pointer. He added two more triples and the Lithuanian side trailed 26-33. Real just kept going and finished the first half on a 3-13 run to led 29-46 at the break.

The third quarter was much more even as Ugnius Jarusevicius scored two baskets and Kneizys hit another three-pointer but Zalgiris still trailed 38-52. Nunez countered twice from long range and Klavzar also hit a triple and Real was up 47-69 after 30 minutes. Sargiunas hit the first four points of the final frame to make it 51-69 while Real did not score for the first 2 minutes. Lelevicius followed with the next eight points as Zalgiris took advantage of Real’s offense drying up and pulling within 59-71 with 4 minutes to play. Lelevicius added another triple and the deficit was only 64-74 with 2 minutes to play. But Real did not give up any more points the rest of the way and Spagnolo scored the final nine points of the game for the win.