Virtus remains perfect after win over Joventut

U18 Virtus Bologna remained perfect at the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Qualifier Valencia by defeating U18 Divina Seguros Joventut Badalona 76-73 in Round 2 clash of Group B. Virtus came back from a 12-point deficit as Matteo Nicoli nailed 5 three-pointers in scoring 19 points and Gora Camara collected 15 points and 15 rebounds and Lorenzo Deri added 14 points and 8 assists. While Virtus moved to 2-0, Joventut dropped to 1-1 despite Aleix Haro scoring 23 points with Adria Domenech scoring 16 points and Vinicius Da Silva chipping in 9 points, 14 rebounds and 3 blocks.

With Joventut up 5-7 early, Nicoli nailed 3 three-pointers in a 15-6 Virtus run to go ahead 20-13. And the gap was 22-16 when the Italian side’s offense stalled. Joventut cut the gap to 22-19 after 10 minutes and Da Silva picked up 4 points as Joventut scored the first 12 points of the second quarter for a 0-15 run over 5:34 minutes to surge ahead 22-31. The advantage was as high as 12 points with Haro’s three-pointer to make it 29-41. Virtus used the long ball to get back into the game as Deri and Nicoli hit from long range to trail just 40-43 at the break. Joventut opened the second half with the first 6 points to go up 40-49, and it was still 47-53 when Virtus hit the next 9 points to go up 56-53 and was ahead 58-56 going into the final quarter. Virtus did not let Joventut pull ahead in the final frame, leading 64-58 and it was 70-64 after another Nicoli three-pointer. Nicoli hit a long jumper as the gap was 74-69 with 2 minutes left. And Camara’s basket with 44 seconds decided the game at 76-71 with Haro’s potential game-tying three-pointer at the buzzer was off the mark.