U18 Cibona Zagreb locked up a spot in the Third Place Game at the Euroleague Basketball ADIDAS NEXT GENERATION TOURNAMENT Qualifying Tournament – Kaunas by knocking off U18 Porsche Basketball Academy Ludwigsburg 69-55. Karlo Uljarevic scored 15 points while Mate Mandic had 13 points for Cibona, which improved to 2-1 in Group A and secure second place. Josip Popic collected 12 points, 13 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals while Kresimir Nikic picked up 8 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists and 4 blocks in the win. Cosmo Gruehn tallied 25 points, 11 rebounds and 2 blocks for Ludwigsburg, which dropped to 1-2 in the group.

Gruehn opened the game with 2 free throws and Quirin Emanga Noupoue added 4 points as Ludwigsburg was up 0-6. Oton Jankovic scored Cibona’s first points before Jeferson Hiller nailed a three-ball and Gruehn added a put-back to make it 4-11. Cibona kept Ludwigsburg scoreless for 3 minutes and used a 9-0 run to take its first lead 13-11. Hiller tied it back up but Cibona tallied the final 6 points of the quarter to lead 19-13 after 10 minutes. Uljarevic increased the advantage to 21-13 to start the second quarter but Gruehn hit for 4 points as the German club pulled to within 23-21. Ludwigsburg was down just 29-25 when Popic converted a three-point play and Luka Jelinic increased the advantage to 34-25. Another basket by Gruehn trimmed the margin to 34-27 at the break.

Ludwigsburg scored the first four points of the second half and the gap was down to 34-31. But Cibona held the German side scoreless for more than 3 minutes and pulled away 42-31. Gruehn’s three-pointer stopped the run but an 8-0 surge had Cibona up 52-36. And it was 58-38 after 30 minutes following three-pointers from Jelinic and Uljarevic. Gruehn scored the first basket of the fourth quarter, but by the time Ludwigsburg scored again, Ivan Tvrtko Majic had pushed the advantage out to 63-40. Mateo Seric answered with 6 straight points for Ludwigsburg but the deficit was still 63-48 with 5 minutes left. Free throws by Nikic and Popic extended it to 65-48 before Gruehn’s fast break layup brought Ludwigsburg to within 65-53 with a minute to play. And it wouldn’t get any closer than that the rest of the way.