U18 CSKA Moscow evened its record in Group A of the Euroleague Basketball ADIDIAS NEXT GENERATION TOURNAMENT Qualifying Tournament – Torneo Citta di Roma by beating U18 Anadolu Efes Istanbul 45-67 on Sunday night. Mikhail Andrianov scored 19 points to lead CSKA, which moved to 1-1 after having lost its first game against U18 Stellazzurra Basketball Academy Rome. Daniil Trostin added 11 points and Andrei Lopatin chipped in 11 points in the victory. After having lost its opener against U18 Virtus Bologna, Anadolu Efes fell to 0-2 in the group despite Ismet Avsar scoring 15 points and Yigitcan Saybir adding 10 points. Anadolu Efes forced only 10 CSKA turnovers and made just 4-of-19 (21%) three-pointers with just four assists in the game.

Andrianov started the scoring with two free throws and Avsar evened the game at 2-2. After Danila Konyaev and Nikita Soldatov scored to make it 2-6, Saybir and Tolga Birer knotted the game again at 6-6. Konyaev answered with a three-point play and Aleksandr Ershov followed with two free throws and Andrianov pushed the margin to 8-13. Saybir’s three-ball trimmed it to 11-13 after 10 minutes. Lopatin opened the second quarter and an Andrianov trey made it 11-18. Birer got Anadolu Efes’ first points of the period but Andrianov hit from downtown again and Kirill Mikheev put the lead to double digits for the first time at 13-23. Burak Nurkan reacted after a time out with a three-ball and a fast break layup to cut the gap to five points. Mikheev and Lopatin tallied on either side of an Arda Erdogan free throw and then Andrianov and Artem Kuzmin nailed back-to-back three-pointers to push the advantage to 19-33. Trostin followed with a triple of his own before two Avsar free throws sent the teams into the locker rooms with CSKA ahead 21-36.

Birer’s score to open the second half was matched by Mikheev before five quick points from Avsar had the CSKA lead down to 28-38. Mikheev and Andrianov combined for three free throws to make it 13 points again, only to see Avsar score four more points to get the gap down to single digits 32-41. Lopatin responded with four straight points to start an 0-9 run which also included a Trostin triple to build the cushion to 32-50 late in the third quarter. Anadolu Efes tried one more push to get back into the game as Saybir put back an offensive rebound and nailed a three-pointer just before the buzzer to make it 39-52 after 30 minutes. Samet Gulek’s score to open the fourth quarter cut the gap to 11 points and Mert Camci’s put back had it at 43-54. But Kuzmin’s basket and a Trostin free throw pushed the lead to 43-57. And Bahadir Guler scored what would end up being Anadolu Efes’ final points to make it 45-57 with five minutes left in the game. Lopatin started the final 0-10 run while Anadolu Efes missed its final seven shots and turned the ball over three times in the final five minutes.