Tough start for U18 Zalgiris in the ANGT Finals 1

U18 Zalgiris Kaunas started Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament against the 2019 champions U18 Real Madrid losing the game 65-79.

Juan Nunez led the way with 16 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals for Real with Eli Ndiaye grabbing a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds. Kostantin Kostadinov had 12 points and Sediq Garuba and Henri Veesaar both pitched in 11 points and Urban Klavzar added 10 points in the win.

Radvilas Kneizys paced Zalgiris with 10 points and Dovydas Butka had 8 points and 6 steals.

After Ndiaye opened the scoring for Real, Paulius Murauskas took over early on Zalgiris with seven points for a 10-6 lead. Murauskas left the game and the Lithuanian side struggled to find scoring with Real going on a 3-11 surge to go up 13-17. Nunez was carrying the Spaniards with 12 points in the first frame and an 18-22 lead.

A Dovydas Butka triple got Zalgiris within 23-24 but Nunez drained a three-pointer of his own and Garuba had a three-point play in a 0-13 run over nearly 4 minutes to go up 23-37. After Veesaar also hit from deep to make it a 25-40 lead, Titas Sargiunas picked up six points in a 9-0 spurt to get Zalgiris with 34-40. Real punched right back with the next four points and was up 36-44 at the break.

Sargiunas hit a three-pointer to start the second half and trim the gap to 38-44. But the Lithuanian team’s offense went ice-cold, going scoreless for more than 5 minutes while Klavzar hit two three-pointers among his eight points to help Real score 16 straight points to blow the game open 38-60. And the lead was 46-64 after 30 minutes.

Kostadinov scored the first four points of the final frame and Real went up 46-70 before Murauskas finally scored Zalgiris’ first points of the quarter after nearly 2 minutes. The Lithuanians did manage to score 13 of the next 16 points to put a little bit of cosmetics on the score 57-73. But it was much too little too late.