U18 ASVEL Villeurbanne secured its spot in the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Belgrade first place game with a breathtaking 88-52 victory over U18 Mega Mozzart Belgrade 88-52 to set up a matchup with host side U18 Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade.

ASVEL needed to win by at least 13 points to finish atop a three-way tiebreaker in Group B with Mega and U18 Next Generation Team Belgrade also at 2-1. ASVEL opened the fourth quarter scoring the first 18 points to get the job done. Killian Malwaya led all scorers with 26 points while Yaacov Noam had 15 points, Romain Parmentelot collected 12 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals and Kymany Houinsou tallied 8 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists. Mega, which had won the ANGT Belgrade in 2019 and 2021, could not get enough scoring as Asim Djulovic was the only player in double figures with 15 points. Aleksa Milenkovic added 8 points for Mega, which reached the ANGT Championship Game in 2017 and 2019.

ASVEL kept Mega scoreless for the first 3 minutes but only led 4-0. Bogoljub Markovic converted a three-point play and Djulovic hit a three-pointer to even the game 8-8. ASVEL answered with the next nine points for a 17-8 advantage and led 19-14 after 10 minutes. A triple by Parmentelot and Mervyn Muamba’s and-one pushed ASVEL ahead 27-18. Mega trimmed the margin to 27-23 only to see ASVEL put together a 12-2 surge for a 39-25 lead, which was 40-29 at the break.

ASVEL’s 14-point lead early in the second half was trimmed to 43-35. The French side was not fazed and used its athleticism to disturb Mega and extended the cushion to 56-40. And the gap was 59-44 after 30 minutes. ASVEL came out for the fourth quarter with high intensity and kept the Serbian side scoreless for 5 minutes while Malwaya and Houinsou combined for 16 points in an 18-0 run to open a 77-44 lead. Milenkovic finally scored for Mega but the ASVEL attack was not to be slowed down.