2022 champion reaches season-ending tournament for ninth straight edition
Mega downs NGT to book ticket to NextGen Finals
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U18 Mega MIS Belgrade booked its ticket to the Adidas NextGen EuroLeague Finals after defeating U18 Next Gen Team Istanbul 86-70 in the NextGen Istanbul first place game. The 2022 continental champion Mega, which also reached the 2017 and 2019 NextGen Championship Game, has now advanced to the season-ending tournament in each of the last nine editions. Mega hit a barrage of three-pointers in the fourth quarter to blow the game open. Ognjen Srzentic paced Mega with 25 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 blocks for an index rating of 33 and Pavle Backo collected 18 points and 10 rebounds for a PIR of 29. Vuk Danilovic chipped in 10 points including a couple of big triples. NGT dropped its first game of the tournament despite Isaac Guedegbe scoring 16 points with 4 assists and Jahel Trefle adding 15 points and 5 rebounds in the loss.
The Next Gen pulled ahead early 2-8 with Trefle scoring 4 points. After being limited to 14 points in the last group stage game, Srzentic started hot for Mega with 7 points in a 12-0 run to lead 16-10. A Stratos Papastavrou triple snapped the rut but Mega followed with the next 7 points for the first double-figure lead, 23-13. NGT finished the quarter with the final 4 points to trail 23-17 after 10 minutes.
A Backo layup to start the second quarter had the Serbian side ahead 25-17. Papastavrou knocked down another triple and Louka Letailleur added a three-point play as NGT got the gap down to 29-28. NGT was twice able to tie the game but the select team could not handle Backo, who had 6 straight points for a 44-37 Mega lead. Te score was 44-40 at the break.
The combo of Srzentic and Backo carried Mega to a 54-44 lead about 4 minutes into the second half. NGT punched right back with back-to-back three-pointers from Lucas Sanchez and Papastavrou and it was a two-point game again. Mega answered with an 11-1 surge to finish the third quarter with a 65-53 advantage.
Nikola Karalic stepped up early in the final frame with 3 points to establish a 13-point lead 68-55. And Srzentic, Danilovic, Vuk Krunic and Vukasin Musikic all hit three-pointers in a span of 3 minutes and the Mega cushion was 80-63 with less than 3 minutes to play.
