NGM becomes second selection team to win a qualifier
Next Gen Team Munich claims first place at NextGen EuroLeague Munich with win over Valencia
Game Report
3 Mins read
U18 Next Gen Team Munich is the winner of the Adidas NextGen EuroLeague Munich tournament after defeating U18 Valencia Basket 88-100 in the first-place game. NGM became the second selection team to win a qualifier following last year’s NextGen Paris event. Mathias Vazquez scored a team-high 19 points with 6 rebounds, Arminas Vilkas and Guillermo Del Pino both scored 16 points and Reino Saivosalmi added 13 points. Valencia missed a chance to win its second qualifier in club history after it had claimed first place at the NextGen Valencia in 2018-19. Tomas Talcis had 22 points for Valencia and Pau Torrens had 15 points, but the team’s two leading scorers - Javier Viguer and Nicolas Gomez - were held to a combined 13 points - 14.7 points below their combined average.
NGM’s defense was strong to start, giving up just one basket in building a 2-9 lead over 3 minutes. The selection team got two scores from Vilkas and back-to-back three-pointers from Saivosalmi for a 12-27 advantage. Dogus Balbay’s team led 17-31 after 10 minutes.
Conrado Heilmann opened the second quarter with a three-pointer and the Spanish side was able to score a bit more consistently and the team’s second-leading scorer Viguer finally scored his first points to make it 24-35. Another Vazquez three-pointer helped the cushion grow to 24-39. Valencia fought back into the game thanks to two Victor Iglesias three-pointers and 7 points by Talcis to close within 40-43. Talcis added another three-point play and Iglesias put Valencia back in front 47-46. NGM responded with nearly 2 minutes of tough defense while Ricards Aizpurs hitting a triple and Vilkas converted a three-point play for a 47-54 lead. And the teams went into the locker room with Valencia down 49-54.
Game Leaders
Aizpurs hit a triple to start the second half but Valencia went on a 9-0 run to reclaim the lead 58-57. A Torrens triple had Valencia up 63-61 and it was 65-65 with under 4 minutes left in the third quarter. NGM scored the next nine points and was up 70-77 after 30 minutes.
After a Vilkas basket, Torrens scored the next 5 points to get Valencia as close as 75-79. NGM showed its offensive firepower with a 2-10 surge as Del Pino and Saivosalmi hit three-pointers and it was 77-89. Valencia would not give up and made it 84-90 with about 4 minutes to play. Valencia stuck within striking range with a Talcis three-point play and an Alex Blanco three-pointer to pull the deficit to 88-95. But Del Pino delivered the dagger three-pointer with 57 seconds to play.
