U18 Next Gen Team Istanbul will face off against U18 Mega MIS Belgrade in the first place game of the Adidas NextGen EuroLeague Istanbul after defeating U18 Gran Canaria 80-69 to top Group B. NGT pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 3-0 record with Isaac Guedegbe tallying 15 points and 10 assists.

NGT pulls away in fourth to beat Gran Canaria

U18 Next Gen Team Istanbul will face off against U18 Mega MIS Belgrade in the first place game of the Adidas NextGen EuroLeague Istanbul after defeating U18 Gran Canaria 80-69 to top Group B. NGT pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 3-0 record with Isaac Guedegbe tallying 15 points and 10 assists, Jahel Trefle scoring 13 points and Stratos Papastavrou adding 11 points. Joaquin Taboada poured in 17 points to lead Gran Canaria, which finished second in the group with a 2-1 record. Arthur Tsafack had 16 points and 9 rebounds and Mervedi Miteo added 12 points.

The first five minutes of the game saw NGT score and Gran Canaria follow up to even the score until it was 13-13. A Papastavrou three-pointer gave the selection team an 18-13 lead and Papastavrou’s second triple made it 23-15. The score was 25-22 after 10 minutes. Three free throws from Taboada gave Gran Canaria its first lead 27-30 and Tsafack made it 27-34. NGT trimmed the margin to 34-36 only to see the Spanish side push ahead 34-42. NGT made a push right back and was down 42-43 at the break. 

The early parts of the second half featured four lead changes and Gran Canaria eventually opened a 52-59 cushion. And the advantage was 58-61 after 30 minutes. NGT scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter to lead 66-61. Gran Canaria answered with the next four points to make it a one-point game and then Gerard Fernandez threw down maybe the dunk of the tournament and followed that with a corner three as NGT led 72-65. Trailing 74-67, Tsafack got a steal but missed a dunk in the open court and Guedegbe nailed the dagger three-pointer for a 77-67 lead with 70 seconds left. 

Game News

Selection team sets up date with Mega in first place game.

U18 Next Gen Team Istanbul v U18 Gran Canaria (2024-11-30T15:00:00.000Z)

The 2022 continental champion U18 Mega MIS Belgrade clinched a spot in the Adidas NextGen EuroLeague Istanbul first place game with a tougher than expected 53-64 victory over host side U18 Bahcesehir College Istanbul. 

Mega needs tough fight to see off Bahcesehir

The 2022 continental champion U18 Mega MIS Belgrade clinched a spot in the Adidas NextGen EuroLeague Istanbul first place game with a tougher than expected 53-64 victory over host side U18 Bahcesehir College Istanbul. Mega could never put away the NextGen debutant and finally finished strong for a perfect 3-0 mark in Group A. After scoring 59 points combined in the first two games, Ognjen Srzentic was held to 14 points but did add 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals. Pavle Backo scored 13 points and Vid Krunic picked up 10 points for Mega. Bahcesehir could have won the group with a victory but ended up last with a 1-2 record - finishing behind U18 Panathinaikos Athens and U18 Umana Reyer Venice. Yavuz Kara was Bahcesehir’s top scorer with 13 points and Ahmet Aydin added 12 points. 

Bahcesehir led 4-2 in the early going as it played tough defense against the number one offense, and the lead was 7-6. Petar Ostojic answered with five points and Mega star Srzentic needed more than 6 minutes to finally score, but added two triples for a 10-18 lead. And Mega was up 14-20 after the first quarter. Bahcesehir trailed just 18-20 in the opening moments of the second quarter and then Backo scored six straight points for an 18-28 Mega cushion. Bahcesehir’s defense stood strong and allowed the team to stay within 24-30. Bahcesehir went more than 2 minutes without a point and fell behind 24-35, but went into the break down 26-35. 

The host side picked up the first four points of the second half and was only down 30-35. Mega finally started to get some points with Backo adding four more points and the gap was 30-41. Bahcesehir briefly got the deficit down to six points but trailed 39-48 after three quarters. Bahcesehir would not go away and Aydin’s three-pointer made it 45-48. Mega could not put away Bahcesehir and Pamir Suvari scored two baskets to trail just 51-54 with under 4 minutes to play. Backo hit a big three-pointer and Krunic converted a layup and Mega was back up 10 points - 51-61 - with under 2 minutes to play. 

Mega needs tough fight to see off Bahcesehir 

U18 Bahcesehir College Istanbul v U18 Mega MIS Belgrade (2024-11-30T12:45:00.000Z)

U18 Umana Reyer Venice secured its first victory of the Adidas NextGen EuroLeague Istanbul by winning a back-and-forth battle against U18 Panathinaikos Athens 69-68 in Group A. The biggest lead of the game was seven points and Reyer prevailed for a 1-2 record. Francesco Eramo collected 19 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 steals.

Reyer downs Panathinaikos for first win

U18 Umana Reyer Venice secured its first victory of the Adidas NextGen EuroLeague Istanbul by winning a back-and-forth battle against U18 Panathinaikos Athens 69-68 in Group A. The biggest lead of the game was seven points and Reyer prevailed for a 1-2 record. Francesco Eramo collected 19 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 steals, Davide Marini scored 17 points and Edoardo Bonivento added 13 points and 9 rebounds. Panathinaikos is also 1-2 after the loss, wasting Christos Georgas tallying 20 points and 12 rebounds. Georgios-Angelos Tsakiris added 18 points, Iason Binis had 17 points and 10 rebounds and Evangelos Bousmpouras chipped in 2 points and 10 assists. 

Panathinaikos scored the first six points and led 2-8 and was still ahead 7-13. Reyer fought back and trailed just 13-14, and it was 13-15 after 10 minutes. Marini hit a three-pointer for Reyer’s first lead 18-17. The rest of the first half went back and forth with eight lead changes and the game was knotted 35-35 at the break. 

Binis scored 4 points as Panathinaikos opened the second half with the first seven points and led 35-42. Another Marini triple trimmed the deficit to 47-49, only to have Tsakiris hit a three-pointer at the other end to make it 51-57. Reyer cut it to 55-57 after three quarters. The game remained tight in the final frame and it was still tied 66-66 after Federico Vecchiuzzo and Tsakiris drained three-pointer to temporarily put their teams ahead. Marini hit his fifth three-pointer to put Reyer up 69-66 with 80 seconds to go. Bousmpouras pulled back two points from the free throw line but committed a traveling turnover with 10.3 seconds left. Marini however turned it over with 7.2 seconds to play giving Panathinaikos the chance to win, but Georgas missed his shot.

Italian side finishes group play with 1-2 record.

U18 Umana Reyer Venice v U18 Panathinaikos Athens (2024-11-30T10:30:00.000Z)

Gran Canaria takes down Efes after tough fight for 2-0 mark

U18 Gran Canaria remained perfect at the Adidas NextGen EuroLeague Istanbul by fighting past U18 Anadolu Efes Istanbul 87-79 in Group B. Gran Canaria took Efes’ best punch in the fourth quarter and delivered in the clutch for a 2-0 record. Arthur Tsafack paced Gran Canaria with 23 points and 12 rebounds, Jorge Arteaga had 14 points including the dagger three-pointer late in the game and Code Mbengue added 8 points, 14 rebounds and 2 blocks. Efes fell to 0-2 despite Atahan Akbas scoring 21 points and dishing out 5 assists. Aldin Turkoglu had 19 points and 10 rebounds and Mert Kocagozoglu picked up 13 points in the loss. 

After Gran Canaria started with a 9-5 lead, Efes got 5 points from Kocagozoglu in a 0-12 run to go ahead 9-17. The Spanish side punched back with a 13-2 surge and was leading 22-19 after the first quarter. Efes tallied the first nine points of the second quarter to reclaim the lead 22-28. Two baskets from Tsafack evened the game 33-33 and even though Gran Canaria nosed back ahead 37-36, the score was 39-41 at halftime. 

The beginning of the second half was back and forth with seven lead changes until Gran Canaria scored 6 straight points to take a 60-55 lead. The score was 60-56 after 30 minutes. Gran Canaria had a strong start to the final frame and increased the lead to 67-58. And the cushion was 71-61 with under 7 minutes to play. A Kocagozoglu three-pointer was followed by two triples from Demir Ozturk and Efes was suddenly down just 73-70. Gran Canaria answered with the next 6 points, and Arteaga buried a dagger three-pointer with 73 seconds left to lead 84-76.

Gran Canaria will face Next Gen Team for spot in first place game

U18 Gran Canaria v U18 Anadolu Efes Istanbul (2024-11-30T08:15:00.000Z)

The U18 Next Gen Team Istanbul grabbed its second victory in two games at the Adidas NextGen EuroLeague Istanbul by winning comfortably 74-95 over U18 Fenerbahce BEKO Istanbul. NGT laid the foundation for its win with a 17-30 second quarter for a 2-0 mark in Group B. Jahel Trefle was the selection team’s top scorer with 16 points to go with 8 rebounds.

Next Gen team takes care of Fenerbahce 

The U18 Next Gen Team Istanbul grabbed its second victory in two games at the Adidas NextGen EuroLeague Istanbul by winning comfortably 74-95 over U18 Fenerbahce BEKO Istanbul. NGT laid the foundation for its win with a 17-30 second quarter for a 2-0 mark in Group B. Jahel Trefle was the selection team’s top scorer with 16 points to go with 8 rebounds, Lucas Sanchez and Dominique Fisher both had 13 points and Isaac Guedegbe tallied 12 points and 7 assists. Fenerbahce fell to 0-2 despite Omer Ziyaettin scoring 17 points and Ulas Urunlu chipping in 15 points. 

Trefle started strong for the selection team with 5 points in a 5-7 game. Urunlu shined at the other end with 11 points as Fenerbahce led 18-12. Louka Letailleur and Fisher combined for 9 points as NGT responded with a 0-15 run to surge back ahead 18-27. The score was 23-27 after 10 minutes. Ziyaettin and Doruk Yanci both hit triples to get Fenerbahce close at 29-32. Trefle responded with four more points as the advantage grew back to double digits at 31-41. And Sanchez and Djordje Djukanovic drained three-pointers to give NGT a 40-57 lead at halftime. 

The selection team hit the first six points of the third quarter as the cushion grew to 40-63. Fenerbahce trailed by 22 points when it went on an 8-0 spurt to climb within 53-67. The Turkish side still trailed 57-76 after three quarters. NGT once again started a quarter strong with the first five points to re-establish a 24-point lead. Fenerbahce did not get closer than 15 points the rest of the way. 

 

NGT improves to 2-0 in Group B with comfortable victory.

Next Gen team takes care of Fenerbahce

U18 Fenerbahce BEKO Istanbul v U18 Next Gen Team Istanbul (2024-11-30T06:00:00.000Z)

The Adidas NextGen EuroLeague’s 2024-25 season has tipped off this morning at the newly renovated Basketball Development Center in Istanbul, where the continent’s top young talents will battle at the first in a series of four NextGen EuroLeague Qualifying Tournaments.

Watch LIVE: Day 1 of NextGen EuroLeague Qualifying Tournament in Istanbul

The Adidas NextGen EuroLeague’s 2024-25 season tipped off on Friday morning at the newly renovated Basketball Development Center in Istanbul, where the continent’s top young talents will battle at the first in a series of four NextGen EuroLeague Qualifying Tournaments. U18 Mega MIS Belgrade is the only team with two wins after the first day of action, while the host team U8 Bahcesehir College Istanbul as well as U18 Gran Canaria, U18 Panathinaikos Athens and U18 Next Gen Team Istanbul all registered wins on Friday. The action continues on Saturday morning.

Day 1 of NextGen EuroLeague Qualifying Tournament in Istanbul

U18 Panathinaikos Athens grabbed its first win of the Adidas Next Gen EuroLeague Istanbul by knocking off host side U18 Bahcesehir College Istanbul 66-52 in Group A. The Greek team had an answer for any comeback attempt and improved to 1-1.  Georgios-Angelos Tsakiris was the top scorer for the winners with 18 points.

Panathinaikos downs Bahcesehir for first victory 

U18 Panathinaikos Athens grabbed its first win of the Adidas Next Gen EuroLeague Istanbul by knocking off host side U18 Bahcesehir College Istanbul 66-52 in Group A. The Greek team had an answer for any comeback attempt and improved to 1-1.  Georgios-Angelos Tsakiris was the top scorer for the winners with 18 points, Christos Georgas had 14 points and Evangelos Bousmpouras chipped in 4 points, 5 rebounds 13 assists and 3 steals. Ahmet Aydin totaled 16 points and 15 rebounds in the loss, which dropped Bahcesehir to 1-1 in the group.

The game was knotted 8-8 when Panathinaikos went on a 12-0 run to pull ahead 20-8. Bahcesehir stopped the momentum and was down 26-18 after the first quarter. The host side trimmed the gap to 28-24, but Filip Mantsits hit back-to-back three-pointers and Panathinaikos was up 41-31. The Greek team had a 43-34 lead at halftime.

Panathinaikos used the three-pointer to keep Bahcesehir at arm’s length with Tsakiris and Georgas making it a 13-point lead multiple times. And the Greek side led 53-43 after three quarters. Bahcesehir was down 11 points with under 8 minutes to play but Panathinaikos scored the next six points and held the home side scoreless for 5 minutes to take a 65-47 lead. 

Panathinaikos downs Bahcesehir for first victory

U18 Panathinaikos Athens v U18 Bahcesehir College Istanbul (2024-11-29T17:15:00.000Z)

The 2022 continental champion U18 Mega MIS Belgrade remained perfect at the Adidas NextGen EuroLeague Istanbul with another dominant victory, beating U18 Umana Reyer Venice 64-100 in Group A. 

Mega eases to 2-0 record with blowout of Reyer 

The 2022 continental champion U18 Mega MIS Belgrade remained perfect at the Adidas NextGen EuroLeague Istanbul with another dominant victory, beating U18 Umana Reyer Venice 64-100 in Group A. 

Ognjen Srzentic was unstoppable again with 30 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists for a 37 index rating in 21 minutes. Vuk Danilovic scored 16 points, Pavle Backo collected 14 points and 8 rebounds, Petar Ostojic had 11 points and 10 rebounds and Vid Krunic chipped in 11 points. Francesco Carnevale scored 13 points and Andrea Macri had 12 points in the loss, which dropped Reyer’s record to 0-2.

Reyer was close in the early going at 6-8 when Srzentic took over with a total of 13 points as Mega surged ahead 8-22. Reyer’s offense was able to execute a bit better and trimmed the gap to 18-27 and the score was 18-29 after 10 minutes. Mega tallied the first five points and then extended the cushion out to 22 points at 24-46. The Serbian side was still ahead 30-50 and led 39-57 at halftime. 

Mega made sure Reyer didn’t have any thoughts of a comeback with a 2-16 start to the second half for a 41-73 lead. And the score was 51-82 after three quarters. Mega was just too strong even in the end of the team’s bench compared to Reyer. 

U18 Umana Reyer Venice v U18 Mega MIS Belgrade (2024-11-29T15:00:00.000Z)

Former two-time EuroLeague champ Balbay debuts as NGT Istanbul coach 

Next Gen team dominates in opening win of Efes

The U18 Next Gen Istanbul team opened the Adidas NextGen EuroLeague Istanbul with comfortable 54-99 victory over U18 Anadolu Efes Istanbul in Group B. With former two-time EuroLeague champion Dogus Balbay debuting as coach, the NGT took the first quarter 6-32 and never looked back. 

Christopher Ebunangombe led the way with 16 points and 5 assists, Jahel Trefle had 13 points and 6 rebounds and Isaac Guedegbe chipped in 9 points and 7 assists. Aldin Turkoglu was Efes’ top scorer with 14 points.

NGT scored the first seven points of the game and already led 4-17 when the selection team reeled off a 2-15 run to finish the first quarter with a 6-32 lead. Things did not get any easier for Efes with a 1-14 surge for an 11-48 advantage. The Turkish side was able to score a bit more in the second half of the second quarter and trailed 23-56 at halftime. 

 

With the team playing its first game of the competition, NGT kept its foot on the gas in looking how to play with one another. The lead was 31-60 and then 39-67 before NGT finished the third quarter with the last nine points to lead 39-76. NGT did not let up at all in the final 10 minutes in a blowout. 

NextGen team dominates in opening win of Efes

U18 Anadolu Efes Istanbul v U18 Next Gen Team Istanbul (2024-11-29T12:45:00.000Z)