Olimpija upsets Mega for first victory

U18 Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana picked up its first victory of the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Belgrade by surprising U18 Mega Bemax Belgrade 83-86. Alen Malovcic poured in 24 points to pace four players in double figures for Olimpija, which improved to 1-1 in Group B. Egor Sytnikov scored 14 points, Matej Bosnjak collected 11 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks, Kim Klavzar chipped in 10 points, 5 rebounds and 9 assists in the win. Mega, which finished first in the ANGT Belgrade last season, dropped to 1-1 despite Luka Paunovic tallying 21 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals and both Petar Kovacevic and Mihailo Musikic scoring 15 points.

Olimpija jumped out to a big start with Sytnikov pouring in seven straight points in a 2-11 run for a 4-11 lead. It was 13-16 before Malovcic hit four points in a 2-10 spurt to move ahead 15-26 and Olimpija was up 19-26 after 10 minutes. Olimpija opened the second quarter with a 2-7 run for a 21-33 and an Anze Durkic three-pointer helped push the gap to 30-42. Mega got back into the game with an 8-2 run and Kovacevic scoring four points to pull within 40-46 - with the score being 40-48 at intermission. Trailing by 10 points again, Paunovic and Nikola Jovic both hit from long range in a 12-3 spell to pull with 54-55. Olimpija punched back with a 7-15 answer with Luka Tekavcic hitting two treys and Malovcic also connecting from outside for a 61-70 lead, which was 63-70 after 30 minutes. Mega held Olimpija scoreless for the first 3 minutes of the fourth quarter and Nikola Milosevic hit a three-ball and Kovacevic’s three-point play gave the Serbian side the lead for the first time since the opening basket 71-70. Malovcic responded with a three-ball and Stepan Gontar’s alley-oop dunk had Olimpija up 71-75. After Mega trimmed it to one point again, Malovcic hit a trey for a 76-82 lead and it was 76-84 after two Klavzar free throws with 52 seconds left. Klavzar and Bosnjak both missed two foul shots and Paunovic made it 81-84 with 8.3 seconds remaining. But Malovcic iced the game with two free throws with 5.5 seconds to play.