U18 Helsinki Basketball Academy collected a victory in its maiden game at the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Patras by knocking off the host side U18 Promitheas Patras 72-85 in Group B. The debutant from Finland’s capital hit five three-pointers in a 3-17 start to the fourth quarter to blow the game open. Ville Karhu led Helsinki with 21 points while Miro Little collected 19 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals, Viljami Vartiainen scored 12 points and Tuukka Harsila chipped in 11 points. Tunde Fasasi was Promitheas’ leading scorer with 24 points and Nikolao Plotas added 14 points in the loss.

After Fasani had two baskets to give the home side a 4-0 lead, Harsila scored the first points for Helsinki in the history of the competition and Karhu and Vartiainen both knocked down three-pointers for a 5-10 advantage. Promitheas answered with the next eight points to pull back ahead only to have Helsinki reclaim the lead at 16-17. And the score was deadlocked 20-20 after 10 minutes. Neither team was able to pull away in the second quarter though Fasani hit a three-pointer and Nikolao Vasileiou scored four points to make it 30-25. Helinski evened it at 32-32 but the Greek side was up 35-32 at the break.

The third quarter was more of the same but even more back and forth as Helsinki got three-pointers from Harsila, Rasmus Lindberg and Vartiainen while Ilias Kourepis and Fasasi were doing the damage for Promitheas. There were eight lead changes and five ties with the home side leading 61-59 after 30 minutes. Helsinki unleashed a three-point barrage in the fourth quarter with Little hitting back-to-back triples along with single three-pointers from Vartiainen, Karhu and Harsila in building a 64-76 lead with less than 5 minutes left. Promitheas failed to score in the first 4 minutes of the fourth quarter and could not get closer than nine points the rest of the way.