Zalgiris’ youth wins qualification, advances to main event 0
Zalgiris Kaunas youth team was not given a proper fight in the qualifications for the main Euroleague Nike International Junior Tournament (NIJT). The side from Kaunas defeated opposition from Benetton Treviso youth pyramid 79:55 in the final.
The Lithuanian green-and-whites won all four matches in the qualification round, beating their opponents by an average of 32 points.
Dovydas Redikas led Zalgiris with 15 points, Kaspars Vecvagars and Rolandas Jakstas, who also grabbed 14 rebounds, collected 12 points each, while Egidijus Mockevicius scored 10 and got 8 rebounds.
Armin Mazic had a game-high 18 points for Benetton, Andrea Quarisa collected a double-double of 13 points and 12 boards, while Alessandro Zanelli added 11.
Benetton started the final better, building a 13:7 lead early on, however Zalgiris, on the shoulders of Dovydas Redikas and the Latvian Kaspars Vecvagars, went on a 16:4 run to get a double-digit lead at 30:19.
The Lithuanian team kept on increasing their advantage and achieved yet another convincing victory.
Zalgiris, as the winner of this qualification round, got an invitation to the main NIJT tournament, which will take place during the Final 4 in Paris next year. Three more teams will be decided in the remaining qualification rounds and Euroleague will have four wild cards that they will hand out, one of which already went to FMP Zeleznik. The Serbs will be there to defend their title, after winning against Lietuvos Rytas youngsters last year in the final.
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