Arka takes seventh place with first ANGT win since 2008

U18 Asseco Arka Gdynia collected its first victory at the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Belgrade in beating U18 Panathinaikos OPAP Athens 75-94 to finish seventh. Nikodem Czoska paced seven players in double figures with 17 points for Arka, which was making its first appearance in the competition since the 2007-08 season. Lukasz Walkowiak scored 16 points, Olaf Perzanowski tallied 13 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists, Antoni Michalski had 12 and Wojciech Tomaszewski, Kacper Gordon and Piotr Lis added 10 points apiece. Panathinaikos, which defeated host U18 Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade in the first game of the tournament, ended up in eighth place despite Marios Giotis scoring 30 points and Emmanouil Kontoudis picking up 21 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists.

Walkowiak drained a pair of three-pointers as Arka jumped ahead 3-10. Nikodem Czoska also hit from the outside and Michalski converted a three-point play for an 8-20 lead, which was 11-20 after 10 minutes. Evangelos Giannoulakis helped Panathinaikos pull within 18-21 and it was 24-30 before Arka went on a 0-12 surge to lead 24-42. The Polish side was up 27-48 at the break. After another Walkowiak triple increased the advantage to 33-55 early in the second half, Panathinaikos responded with an 11-2 surge to make it 44-57. The gap was 51-65 after 30 minutes. A Giotis three-ball started the fourth quarter and had the Greek side within 54-65. Arka delivered the knockout blow though with a 1-12 run for a 55-77 cushion and Panathinaikos did not get closer than 17 points the rest of the way.