Stilma’s 42 points lead Unicaja over Virtus

Morgan Stilma narrowly missed breaking the competition’s all-time single-game scoring record as U18 Unicaja Malaga came back from a 17-point deficit to claim fifth place at the Euroleague Basketball ADIDAS NEXT GENERATION TOURNAMENT Ciutat de L’Hospitalet with an 86-99 victory over U18 Virtus Bologna. Stilma collected 42 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals for a performance index rating of 52. The scoring record belongs to Dragan Bender, who scored 43 for U18 Maccabi Tel Aviv against U18 Virtus Bologna on December 29, 2014. Stilma’s 52 PIR is tied for the sixth-best all-time with Nikola Mirotic holding the record of 84 for U18 Real Madrid against U18 FMP in January 6, 2009. Jesus Carralero chipped in 12 points in the victory for Unicaja. Miik Jurkatamm scored 24 points in the loss for Virtus.

Virtus was able to pull ahead in the first quarter thanks to outside shooting with Lorenzo Deri, Lorenzo Bianchini and Niccolo Venturoli all hitting threes for a 19-11 lead. The push continued and Virtus’s advantage extended to 25-15 and was 30-21 after 10 minutes. Two baskets from Alessandro Scariolo trimmed the gap to 30-27, but Venturoli hit another three-pointer and Jurkatamm nailed two from outside to put Virtus up 43-27. The gap was 48-31 before Unicaja got it down to 48-37 at the intermission. Virtus remained ahead 57-47 when Stilma scored 10 points in a 0-12 run to put Unicaja up 57-59. The Spanish side led 64-68 after three quarters. Virtus stayed close and trailed just 74-79 when Stilma scored 9 points to lead an 8-20 surge for an 82-99 lead to decide the game.