U18 Zalgiris Kaunas had a good start in the NextGen EuroLeague qualifier in Abu Dhabi by downing U18 Valencia Basket 89-84 at Space42 in Group B on Friday.
Sten Markus Adamson led the winners with 16 points. Kristupas Sebackas added 15, Maksim Brnovic had 14, while Ignas Stombergas got 12, 10 rebounds and 6 blocks for Zalgiris.
Guillem Tazo led Valencia with 18 points. Javier Viguer added 18, Ilan Laville-Guillon had 17 and Daniel Osayi 14.
Tazo struck from downtown and Osayi added a three-point play to give Valencia an early 2-8 lead. Adamson and Galius Cernekis rescued Zalgiris before Emils Steckis’s layup tied it at 17-17. Roger Villarejo dunked and Laville-Guillon hit a triple that restored a 19-24 Valencia lead at the end of the first quarter.
Tazo’s fast-break layup soon made it a double-digit game, 28-38. Adamson got help from Brnovic to bring Zalgiris within 42-45 at halftime.
Stombergas’s put-back layup completed Zalgiris’s comeback, 47-45, right after the break. Augustas Kicas capped a 14-0 run that bridged between both halves to boost his team’s lead to 54-45.
Stombergas and Adamson kept pacing Zalgiris before Sabeckas’s coast-to-coast layup made it an 11-point game, 70-59. Valencia managed to get within 87-84 with 23.3 seconds left. Brnovic split free throws and Kicas got both attempts to seal Zalgiris’s win.
