Sergio De Larrea won’t celebrate his 18th birthday until early December, but U18 Valencia Basket’s star playmaking talent has already gone through several highs and lows from which he has learned. 

Overcoming knee problems allowed De Larrea chance to showcase creativity 

Sergio De Larrea won’t celebrate his 18th birthday until early December, but U18 Valencia Basket’s star playmaking talent has already gone through several highs and lows from which he has learned. The stress of De Larrea’s biggest high, in fact, led indirectly to him missing time from the game and coming back with a different mindset.

De Larrea is playing his third ANGT for Valencia and watching him play the game is a joy for fans of creative playmakers. It should be no surprise that he spent countless hours studying the likes of Luka Doncic, Ricky Rubio and Vasilije Micic.

"Those guys are different great players, but they have a lot in common in that they play a lot for the pass and look for their teammates," said De Larrea, who regularly dishes no-look passes to teammates. "They have good ideas. I like these types of players because my perception of basketball is to play for the whole team and not just for myself."

De Larrea has risen in status to become one of the best young playmakers on the continent. He is spending his third season in the ANGT and averaged 17.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, 5.5 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.0 blocks at the 2022 ANGT Belgrade. Entering Sunday's fifth-place game at the 2023 qualifying event, he's posted 17.0 points, 4.3 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 2.7 steals for a PIR of 24.0.

"This is always an honor to play in this type of tournament because we learn a lot. We play against the best players in Europe. It’s a great experience to grow as a player," De Larrea said about the ANGT.

De Larrea hails from Valladolid, about 100 kilometers from Madrid. He was playing at a small school team - not even a club - when two years ago he decided to join Valencia.

"Valencia had great facilities, a great staff and great basketball coaches. They are good at teaching their players, and I thought I could learn a lot for my game,” he said. “If you have opportunities you have to go with them and use them."

De Larrea’s steep rise in the game carried him to the Spanish national team for the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2022 in Spain, where he helped the hosts to the silver medal.

"It was an incredible experience because it was at home in Malaga and everybody in the crowd was supporting us. And winning a silver at home - our first medal (after three fourth-placed finishes) - was amazing," said the 1.98-meter tall playmaker, who contributed 6.3 points, 1.9 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game.

Besides the medal and experience, the stress of the U17 World Cup also brought knee issues to De Larrea, who had to refrain from basketball activities for four months after the tournament.

"I took it as a process that every player has. Every person has injuries or other problems in their lives. So I took that moment to learn about other things and improve physically and mentally. I knew I would get back to basketball."

When he returned to the court for action in November, Valencia sent De Larrea to its Godella team in the LEB Silver third division, where he has averaged 10.1 points, 2.9 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.9 steals this season.

His strong play there also earned him a debut in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague on January 11 at home against Anadolu Efes Istanbul.

"I remember it as an incredible experience. It was also in Valencia so the crowd was incredible when I got onto the court. When I had the ball I was very nervous. But it was a great experience," he said about playing 13 seconds in the team’s 81-71 victory in Round 18.

"At first we thought it would be a difficult game because Efes was playing good and they are a good team. I thought I would never play in the game. But I got to play the final seconds. And we won. That is the most important thing."

De Larrea would play 1:57 minutes in Valencia’s next EuroLeague game but he did not score. Scoring in the EuroLeague will have to be one of his next highlights.

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Nikola Topic etched his name in the record books of the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament as the U18 Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade leader spearheaded his team’s improbable comeback against U18 Next Generation Team Belgrade with a record-tying 49 points and one of the best PIRs in history, 65.

In helping his team come back from 21 points down with 6 minutes left in the third quarter, Topic tallied 49 points in 43:15 minutes of Zvezda’s thrilling 95-96 overtime win over NGT Belgrade. He made 10-of-13 two-pointers, 3-of-7 three-pointers and all 20 of his free throws to go with 3 rebounds, 12 assists, 3 steals and 11 fouls drawn for an index ranking of 65.

"Unbelievable game, we were losing in the first half, we didn’t start good and needed to catch up. It was a great game. Thanks to my teammates and the fans who came out. Now we move on," said the mild-mannered Topic about his performance.

About what he was thinking when the team was down 21 points early in the third quarter, he added: "I just wanted to win. That’s all. My team helped me. That’s all. It was a team win."

Starting from that deficit, Topic tallied 37 points with 16 of his free throws, 6 assists and 9 fouls drawn in the final 11 minutes of action.

"What can you say about him? He is pure gold for European and world basketball. What can you say about his performance tonight? It was unbelievable. He’s a great guy, a great worker. He understands basketball so much. There is a lot of good times in front of him," said Zvezda head coach Branko Jorovic.

Topic’s 49 points tied the all-time ANGT record for points in a single game with Lefteris Mantkoukas of U18 Promitheas Patras in 2020-21. Topic’s 65 PIR ranks tied for third all-time with Mantzoukas from the same game - behind only Nikola Mirotic's 84 PIR with U18 Real Madrid in 2008-09 and 66 for Dragan Bender with U18 Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2014-15.

Topic’s 20 free throws made matched Mantzoukas’s record for most in a single game from the same 2020-21 game, but Mantzoukas made 20-of-23. Topic’s perfect night from the foul line shattered the previous best mark of 14-for-14 shooting by Mirotic in his game with 84 PIR.

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