U18 Lietkabelis Panevezys secured its first-ever victory at the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament by knocking off U18 Partizan NIS Belgrade 79-95 on Sunday to take seventh place at the ANGT Belgrade.
U18 Partizan NIS Belgrade 79-95 U18 Lietkabelis Panevezys
Game Report
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Lietkabelis, which was making its debut in the competition, never trailed in the game, bending a couple of times but never breaking to get the historic win. Rokas Jocys poured in 26 points with 5 rebounds and 7 assists to lead the winners while Nojus Lebskas scored 19 points. Kristupas Keinys added 16 points, Kajus Leliukas picked up 14 points and 10 rebounds, and Rytis Sakaitis chipped in 9 points and 11 assists. Partizan, which finished first at the ANGT Belgrade in 2020, did not win a game this time around. Viktor Mikic tallied 26 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists and Ognjen Stankovic had 22 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists and 5 steals in the loss.
Jocys scored 4 points as Lietkabelis went ahead 2-9 and the Lithuanian side pushed the lead to 11-21. Partizan answered with a 9-0 run over the final 3 minutes of the first quarter to make it 20-21 after 10 minutes. Lietkabelis scored the first 6 points of the second quarter and extended the lead to 20-29. But Partizan responded with the next 8 points to trim the deficit to one point again. Lebskas knocked down 2 three-pointers to keep Lietkabelis ahead and the debutant tallied the final 6 points of the first half to lead 40-52 going into the break.
Partizan used the long ball to get back into the game with Efe Tahmaz hitting 3 triples and Mikic and Marko Krstic hitting another each to pull within 62-63. Lietkabelis remained resilient with a 2-8 close to the quarter to lead 64-71 after 30 minutes. Partizan started the final frame with the first 4 points to pull within 68-71. Keinys and Lebskas hit back-to-back triples as the answer and Lebskas added 2 more three-pointers as the cushion rose to 75-90 with under 4 minutes left. Partizan could not get closer than 11 points over the rest of the game.