U18 Next Generation Team Ljubljana secured third place at the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Ljubljana with an 81-69 victory over U18 ALBA Berlin. NGL fell behind 0-16 to start the game but took the lead in the third quarter and never trailed in the fourth. Luis Garcia paced the selection team with 27 points and 12 rebounds while Urban Kroflic scored 15 points and Alvaro Folgueiras added 9 points and 11 rebounds. Nils Machowski and Linus Ruf both scored 18 for ALBA and Rikus Schulte had 11 points in the defeat.
NGL rallies back to beat ALBA, take third place
Game Report
2 Mins read
Ruf and Machowksi both made 2 three-pointers as ALBA scored the first 16 points of the game. Alessandro Chapelli finally scored after more than 4 minutes and then Garcia drained 2 three-pointers among his 8 points in a 15-3 run to pull within 17-21. The score was 17-23 after 10 minutes. Mario Saint-Supery and Kroflic both drained triples to keep NGL close at 23-29. After Machowski scored 5 straight points and ALBA led 27-39, NGL trimmed the deficit to 33-39. It was 33-42 at intermission.
The surge continued in the second half with Garcia scoring 5 points in a 12-2 run to put NGL in front 45-44. Kroflic knocked down 2 triples in a 14-5 run as the selection team’s lead moved to 59-51, and it was 61-55 after 30 minutes. ALBA fought to get closer and made it 63-59 early in the final frame. Four straight points from Schulte trimmed the gap to 70-67, but NGL held ALBA scoreless for five possessions and Garcia had 4 points to push the margin to 75-67 with 87 seconds left. Ruf converted 2 free throws, but Garcia drained a three-pointer with 69 seconds remaining to make it 78-69 and the German side did not score the rest of the way.