Real Madrid, the host team of the tournament, managed to beat Red Star 73-70 in the title game.
Luka Doncic and Aleksandar Aranitovic were the best players in a match with plenty of gems to follow.
Red Star started dominating the game. They were the more experienced team, with very talented players, and most of the roster is the core of the Serbian National Team, who played last year in U-17 World Championship in Dubai and got a bronze medal back home.
Players like Aranitovic and Vojislav Stojanovic can give you titles; that proves how competitive they are.
The Serbians are a more physical team, and Real Madrid, notorious for not playing well against physical sides had to adjust and they managed to set the pace by mid-second quarter, Real tried hard to tie the game increasing the level of contact.
The “hosts” though, have a few players that can easily make it into pros, such as Jonathan Barreiro, Santiago Yusta and the new great white hope, Luka Doncic. The 1999-born Slovenian, who showcased a natural talent for this game. It seems that everything he does is just simple and easy, even when it is not.
He is the soul of this team and he managed to get Real Madrid fighting when things were thought by the start of the game. The first half ended 39-37, with plenty of things yet to be discussed in the second half.
The last twenty minutes of the championship showed which players definitely wanted to win. Doncic, Yusta and Barreiro supported Real Madrid, while Red Star largely relied on Aranitovic and Stojanovic.
These players scored most of the points during the final 20 minutes. Real Madrid displayed a 3-2 zone defense which stopped the Serbian team. This way, they got a 11-point lead which they managed to keep until the end of the game. Nevertheless, Aranitovic had once last chance to tie the game, but he missed a three-pointer.
This was the end of a great tournament where plenty of young stars had a chance to showcase their skills. Players like the aforementioned Doncic, Yusta, Barreiro and Stojanovic were among the best.
But also Bosnian scorer Edin Atic, French prodigy Stephane Gombauld and Lithuanian Martynas Echodas gave us many reasons to consider this tournament as the best to check the status and health of European basketball.
And the patient is in quite a good shape, we should say.
