Ante Tomic used his experience to keep Joventut in control against London

Joventut Badalona booked its place in the 7DAYS EuroCup Quarterfinals after defeating the London Lions 89-78 at Palau Olimpic de Badalona on Wednesday night, and one player who was pivotal in the win was veteran center Ante Tomic. At points in the game when London mounted a comeback, the 36-year-old took over to ensure that Joventut remained calm.
The first quarter was defined by Joventut's 5 made three-pointers, which helped it close the opening 10 minutes with a 19-12 lead. Tomic, however, had 0 points – a total he also had going into the halftime break, with Joventut ahead 39-31. In his 10:27, he had missed 1 two-pointer and hadn't been to the free-throw line.
That would change after the interval, though. With London looking to get back into the game, Tomic scored 6 points in the third quarter, with 4 of those coming from 5 free-throw attempts. The Croatian big man scored his first points of the game with 7:07 remaining in the third, extending the lead to 48-39, before having two perfect trips to the line to fight off Aaron Best's best efforts, making it 52-41 and 54-42.
In the fourth quarter, Tomic really came into his own. He helped open an 11-point lead once again, 69-58, with 8:01 left, before completing a three-point play to make it a 16-point game, 74-58, shortly after. Some heroics by Sam Dekker and a mid-range make by Jordan Taylor cut the gap to 76-68, but Tomic scored a layup to calm some nerves among the Joventut faithful, 80-68. He was fouled on the hosts' next trip down the floor, going 1-of-2 from the line, 81-68, and a couple of made free throws stopped London's momentum after a Tomislav Zubcic triple, 83-71.
Tomic would add to his 16 points, but his baskets – particularly in the fourth quarter – helped Joventut hold off London's comeback attempt, and it also made sure that the hosts would not have a repeat of last year's shock eighthfinals defeat to ratiopharm Ulm. Now, Tomic will be expected to once again display his leadership on the court when Joventut takes on Hapoel Vegan Friendly Tel Aviv, the No. 3 seed from Group B, in the quarterfinals.