Varapalo for Real Madrid youth in their attempt to retain the title of European champion of its category in Adidas Next Generation Tournament that is being played in Belgrade and in parallel to the Final Four of the Euroleague that disputes its semifinals today, Thursday.
The white team swept Maccabi yesterday (66-93) on the first day, but he was unable in his second game with the local Mega Mozzart (74-81). The defeat leaves them with a balance of 1-1 in the absence of tomorrow’s game against INSEP Paris. Only the first of each of the two groups qualifies for the final, so Real Madrid will need a victory tomorrow and that Mega Mozzart, their executioner today, does not win Maccabi. When you play (11:00), you will already know what the Serbian team has done, which plays its game at 09:00.
For a quarter and a half, it seemed that Real Madrid would have another triumphant day. El Mozzart missed many shots released outside and barely found spaces inside against the towers of the Spanish team. In seven minutes the score was 14-3, and at the end of the first quarter 19-9. But the key came in the last minutes of the second quarter, when the Serbs tied a 0-13 run that turned a comfortable 30-16 into a 30-29. At the break they still took the advantage (36-20) of a Real Madrid that sank in the last minutes: from 66-66 with six minutes to go to 68-78, with no time for reaction.
the executioner was Bassala Bagayoko (19 points, 12 rebounds, PIR of 27), who plays the guest tournament at Mozzart and who belongs to a Fuenlabrada with which, in April 2021, he made history when he debuted in the ACB League at 14 years and 7 months, the youngest to do so. Now he is 15 years old and he resurrected his team in the second quarter, first, and pulled him later, facing the tremendous internal power of Real Madrid. In addition, Djurisic scored 19 points and distributed 7 assists and Jelavic and Malovec (29 points between the two) scored the decisive triples, which did enter the Serbian team in the last quarter.
At Real Madrid, who will play it tomorrow, Eli Ndiaye finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds, Urban Klavzar with 17 and 5 assists, Henri Veesaar with 12 and Sediq Garuba, Usman’s brother, with 12, 7 rebounds and 3 assists. It wasn’t enough and now it’s time to wait.