Big first quarter carries Zvezda past Maccabi for 2-0 mark

U18 Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade used a huge first quarter to knock off U18 Maccabi Tel Aviv 69-57 and move to 2-0 in Group A of the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Belgrade. The host side out-scored Maccabi 25-3 in the first 10 minutes and withstood a late comeback attempt. Nikola Saranovic was top scorer for the 2014 U18 continental champion with 22 points while Filip Brankovic added 13 points and Filip Radakovic contributed 11 points and 4 steals. Ido Menchel had 17 points as the only player in double figures for Maccabi, which dropped to 0-2 in the group.

Zvezda scored the first four points of the game before Niv Avidan made it 4-2 a minute into the game. It would be a while before Maccabi scored again. Saranovic and Radokovic combined for 12 points in an 18-0 run over more than 8 minutes for a 22-2 lead. Michael Eliaszadeh’s free throw finally gave Maccabi some points but the gap was 25-3 after 10 minutes. Maccabi started scoring more consistently in the second quarter and trimmed it to 27-8. Zvezda answered with a Lazar Gagic triple and Saranovic three-point play to lead 33-8. Menchel drained two three-pointers for the Israeli power and the score was 40-18 at the break.

Yuval Levin picked up four points and Menchel hit a triple in a 0-9 run early in the third quarter to get the deficit down to 42-27. Zvezda seemed to wrestle away control again with a 9-3 run for a 54-33 advantage. Ido Iluz and Oz Rozenzwaig both connected from deep but Zvezda was still 57-39 after 30 minutes. Maccabi did not go down without a fight, scoring the first five points and holding Zvezda scoreless for the first 5 minutes of the fourth quarter. And Jonatan Guter’s four-point play started a 2-9 spurt to cut the deficit to 61-53 with 3 minutes to play. Saranovic however delivered the knockout punch with two baskets to extend the lead to 14 points with just 81 seconds left.