U18 Next Generation Team Varese collected its second victory in two games as it defeated U18 Panathinaikos OPAP Athens 75-43 in Group A. NGV reeled off a 14-0 run to end the third quarter to pull away and move to 2-0. Mahamadou Diarra was the leading scorer with 14 points and 10 rebounds, David Gomez scored 12 points and Leonardo Marangon picked up 11 points and 9 rebounds. Panathinaikos made just 4-of-39 three-pointers (10.3%) and committed 21 turnovers in dropping to 0-2. Symeon Efstathiou led the Greens with 9 points and Emmanouil Dimou tallied 8 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists.
NGV pulls away in second half for second win
Game Report
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Gomez opened the scoring for the selection team with Efstathiou picking up seven points at the other end and Dimou hitting a three-pointer for a 6-10 Panathinaikos lead. Dorde Curcic and Mattia De Martin hit triples of their own to bookend a 10-2 answer for NGV, which was up 16-12 before Neoklis Avdalas’ three-pointer to make it 16-15 after 10 minutes. NGV added the first six points of the second quarter and the margin was 22-15. Ioannis Avdalas countered with two baskets and Dimou’s three-point play had the Greens within 26-24. NGV outscored Panathinaikos 6-1 over the final 3 minutes to lead 32-25 at halftime.
Marangon scored four points as NGV started the second half on a 10-0 run to move ahead 42-25. Chanel Mballa Kayou had five points in a 0-7 Panathinaikos spurt to pull within 42-33. The selection team responded with the next 14 points - six of them coming from Diarra - for a 56-33 advantage after 30 minutes. De Martin drained a three-pointer for the first points of the fourth quarter and NGV was up 61-33 before Dimou finally made two free throws. The Greek side never was able to string together points the rest of the way to hope for a comeback.