The reigning continental champion U18 Real Madrid remained undefeated at the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Ljubljana as it defeated debutant U18 Orange1 Bassano 86-73 to finish Group B play with a 3-0 mark. Real, which had already secured a spot in Sunday’s first place game, executed better down the stretch to extend its winning streak in ANGT qualifying games to 16 dating back to the ANGT Munich in 2017-18. Jan Vide scored 17 points for the winners with Henri Veesaar collecting 17 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocks, Amadou Doumbia tallying 13 points and 13 rebounds, Eli Ndiaye adding 12 points and Kaya Shona Mutambirwa chipping in 10 points. The first-time participant BASSANO fell to 0-3 despite 18 points from Andrea Cecchi while Matteo Porto scored 13 points, Moussa Bamba had 10 points and Leonardo Valesin contributed 3 points and 11 assists.
Real rights past BASSANO, remains undefeated
Nikolas Cebrian’s three-pointer opened the scoring for Real with Porto hitting a triple among five points as BASSANO was up 5-7. Real reeled off nine straight points - four each by Vide and Ndiaye - to move ahead 14-7. Bamba scored four points at the other end and the score was 18-13 after 10 minutes. Real did not let up in the second quarter with Doumbia scoring six points in a 16-3 run to break the game open 35-18. Cecchi scored seven points at the other end and Matteo Rinaldin added a three-pointer as BASSANO was down 41-28 at halftime.
After Ndiaye’s three-pointer to start the second half, Octavio Maretto and Tiefing Diawara both drained triples as BASSANO was within 44-36. Ndiaye followed with another triple and Mutambirwa converted a three-point play as Real surged ahead 54-39. Cecchi sparked a 0-9 spurt to pull within six points. Real used its depth of weapons with Veesaar scoring six points to remain ahead 63-54 after 30 minutes. BASSANO failed to score for nearly 3 minutes and four points from Vide extended the cushion to 71-58. Porto drained two three-pointers but the Italian side could not get the stops on defense as Doumbia scored four points and Cebrian hit a triple to lead 79-68 with just more than 2 minutes left. Sarr responded with a three-pointer of his own only to have Veesaar convert inside after a timeout and Real made five of six free throws to seal the win.