U18 Next Generation Team Ljubljana picked up its first victory at the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Ljubljana by knocking off U18 GAK Basketball Academy Gdynia 64-84 to improve to 1-1 in Group A. NGL held Gdynia scoreless for the first 3 minutes of the fourth quarter to pull away and forced 26 Gdynia turnovers. Halvin Dzellat paced the selection team with 14 points while Urban Kroflic had 12 points, Elijah Ndi scored 11 points and Alvaro Folgueiras chipped in 9 points and 11 rebounds. Szymon Nowicki scored 14 points to lead Gdynia, which dropped to 0-2 in the group. Jakub Andrzejewski had 13 points, Maksymilian Wilczek added 13 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals and Tymoteusz Sternicki tallied 10 points in the loss.
NGL defeats Gdynia for first win
Ndi hit a three-pointer early as NGL opened a 4-9 lead with Wilczek connecting from deep at the other end as the game was even 9-9. Ndi added four more points and the selection team was up 9-14. Andrzejewski drained a three-pointer for Gdynia to make it a two-point game before NGL led 16-21 after 10 minutes. Kroflic picked up four points early in the second quarter in a 2-7 spurt to lead 20-28. Jakub Bereszynski trimmed the margin to 28-32 only to see Folgueiras knock down two triples in a 2-11 surge for a 30-43 advantage, which was 33-43 at the break.
Folgueiras and Nowicki swapped three-pointers and Dzellat extended the lead to 38-52. Andrzejewski hit a three-pointer for the Polish team to get the deficit to nine points, but four points from Kroflic increased the margin to 45-60. Luis Garcia added five points and NGL led 53-65 after 30 minutes. Gdynia failed to score for the first 3 minutes of the fourth quarter and Bautista Rodriguez picked up five points as the lead swelled to 53-74. Nowicki finally hit a triple for Gdynia but the team did not get closer than 15 points the rest of the way.