# 2017–18 Junior ABA League

The 2017–18 Junior ABA League is the inaugural season of the Junior ABA League with ten men's under-19 teams from Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Macedonia participating in it. Teams are the junior selections of the 2017–18 ABA League First Division teams.

## Competition

Ten under-19 teams are participating at the 2017–18 Junior ABA League season – Budućnost VOLI, Cedevita, Cibona, Crvena zvezda mts, Igokea, Mega Bemax, Mornar, MZT Skopje Aerodrom, Partizan NIS and Petrol Olimpija - will be divided into two semi-final Groups.
In Group A in Belgrade, Serbia are Crvena zvezda mts, Cibona, Mega Bemax, Mornar and MZT Skopje Aerodrom. In Group B in Zagreb, Croatia are Budućnost VOLI, Cedevita, Igokea, Partizan NIS and Petrol Olimpija.
In the group stage, all teams will face each other team within a group in a round-robin system. The two best placed teams of each group will advance to the final tournament, which will take place in Laktaši. At the final tournament, the teams will play two games – the semifinal and the final or third place game. The winner of the final tournament will become the 2017–18 ABA Junior Tournament Champion.

## Teams
### Team allocation

Regular season :
| Crvena zvezda mts U19 | Budućnost VOLI U19 | Cedevita U19 | Igokea U19 |
| Partizan NIS U19 | Mornar U19 | Petrol Olimpija U19 | |
| Mega Bemax U19 | Cibona U19 | MZT Skopje Aerodrom U19 | |

### Locations and personnel

| Team | Home city | Head coach | Captain |
| Budućnost VOLI U19 | Podgorica | Petar Mijović | |
| Cedevita U19 | Zagreb | Marko Trninić | |
| Cibona U19 | Zagreb | Ante Samac | |
| Crvena zvezda mts U19 | Belgrade | Bojan Đerić | Zoran Paunović |
| Igokea U19 | Aleksandrovac | Žarko Milaković | Dalibor Ilić |
| Mega Bemax U19 | Sremska Mitrovica | Vlada Vukoičić | Andrija Marjanović |
| Mornar U19 | Bar | Aleksandar Mitrović | |
| MZT Skopje Aerodrom U19 | Skopje | Nebojša Đuković | |
| Partizan NIS U19 | Belgrade | Aleksandar Bućan | Marko Pecarski |
| Petrol Olimpija U19 | Ljubljana | Lojze Šiško | |

## Group stage
### Group A

Venue: Basket City Hall, Belgrade, Serbia
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Crvena zvezda mts U19 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 376 | 273 | +103 | 8 | Advance to Final Four |
| 2 | Mega Bemax U19 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 358 | 265 | +93 | 7 | Advance to Final Four |
| 3 | Cibona U19 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 339 | 326 | +13 | 6 | |
| 4 | MZT Skopje Aerodrom U19 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 295 | 356 | −61 | 5 | |
| 5 | Mornar U19 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 263 | 411 | −148 | 4 | |
| 24 November 2017 (Round 1) |
| Crvena zvezda mts U19 | 74–60 | Mega Bemax U19 |
| Mornar U19 | 82–86 | MZT Skopje Aerodrom U19 |
| 25 November 2017 (Round 2 and Round 3) |
| Crvena zvezda mts U19 | 113–62 | Mornar U19 |
| MZT Skopje Aerodrom U19 | 66–91 | Cibona U19 |
| Mornar U19 | 46–117 | Mega Bemax U19 |
| Cibona U19 | 75–94 | Crvena zvezda mts U19 |
| 26 November 2017 (Round 4 and Round 5) |
| Mega Bemax U19 | 88–67 | MZT Skopje Aerodrom U19 |
| Mornar U19 | 73–95 | Cibona U19 |
| MZT Skopje Aerodrom U19 | 76–95 | Crvena zvezda mts U19 |
| Cibona U19 | 78–93 | Mega Bemax U19 |

### Group B

Venue: Dom košarke Cedevita, Zagreb, Croatia
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Igokea U19 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 329 | 303 | +26 | 8 | Advance to Final Four |
| 2 | Budućnost VOLI U19 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 318 | 327 | −9 | 6 | Advance to Final Four |
| 3 | Cedevita U19 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 357 | 317 | +40 | 6 | |
| 4 | Partizan NIS U19 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 313 | 327 | −14 | 5 | |
| 5 | Petrol Olimpija U19 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 302 | 345 | −43 | 5 | |
| 24 November 2017 (Round 1) |
| Cedevita U19 | 77–80 | Igokea U19 |
| Budućnost VOLI U19 | 65–87 | Partizan NIS U19 |
| 25 November 2017 (Round 2 and Round 3) |
| Cedevita U19 | 81–89 | Budućnost VOLI U19 |
| Partizan NIS U19 | 69–84 | Petrol Olimpija U19 |
| Budućnost VOLI U19 | 75–80 | Igokea U19 |
| Petrol Olimpija U19 | 75–108 | Cedevita U19 |
| 26 November 2017 (Round 4 and Round 5) |
| Igokea U19 | 87–84 | Partizan NIS U19 |
| Budućnost VOLI U19 | 89–76 | Petrol Olimpija U19 |
| Partizan NIS U19 | 73–91 | Cedevita U19 |
| Igokea U19 | 76–67 | Petrol Olimpija U19 |

## Final Four

Venue: Laktaši Sports Hall, Laktaši, Bosnia and Herzegovina
| Semifinals | Semifinals | Final | Final |
| 27 January | 27 January |
| Crvena zvezda U19 | 63 |
| Crvena zvezda U19 | 63 | 28 January | 28 January |
| Budućnost VOLI U19 | 57 | 28 January | 28 January |
| Budućnost VOLI U19 | 57 | Crvena zvezda U19 | 60 |
| 27 January | 27 January | | Crvena zvezda U19 | 60 |
| 27 January | 27 January | Mega Bemax U19 | 82 |
| Igokea U19 | 70 | Mega Bemax U19 | 82 |
| Mega Bemax U19 | 73 | | |
| Mega Bemax U19 | 73 | Third place | Third place |
| | | 28 January | 28 January |
| | | Budućnost VOLI U19 | 74 |
| | | Igokea U19 | 77 |
Source: Junior Adriatic League

### Semifinals
#### Crvena zvezda U19 v Budućnost VOLI U19

* 27 January 2018 12:30
* Report
| Crvena zvezda U19 | 63–57 | Budućnost VOLI U19 |
| Scoring by quarter: 13–14, 17–16, 18–18, 15–9 |||
| Pts: Tomašević 22 Rebs: Paunović 12 Asts: Paunović 4 | | Pts: Slavković 17 Rebs: Raičković 17 Asts: Raičković 3 |
* Laktaši Sports Hall, Laktaši

#### Igokea U19 v Mega Bemax U19

* 27 January 2018 15:00
* Report
| Igokea U19 | 70–73 | Mega Bemax U19 |
| Scoring by quarter: 14–8, 19–15, 19–18, 18–32 |||
| Pts: Živković 17 Rebs: Ilić 11 Asts: Janković 8 | | Pts: Bitadze 17 Rebs: Bitadze 14 Asts: Kuzmanović 2 |
* Laktaši Sports Hall, Laktaši

### Third place

* 28 January 2018 14:30
* Report
| Budućnost VOLI U19 | 74–77 | Igokea U19 |
| Scoring by quarter: 23–24, 22–14, 17–16, 12–23 |||
| Pts: Slavković 30 Rebs: Kočić 10 Asts: Kočić 4 | | Pts: Ilić 21 Rebs: Ilić 11 Asts: Janković 6 |
* Laktaši Sports Hall, Laktaši

### Final

* 28 January 2018 17:00
* Report
| Crvena zvezda U19 | 60–82 | Mega Bemax U19 |
| Scoring by quarter: 24–20, 13–15, 9–22, 14–25 |||
| Pts: Paunović 14 Rebs: Popović 9 Asts: Paunović 3 | | Pts: Marjanović 25 Rebs: Bitadze 8 Asts: Jovičić 4 |
* Laktaši Sports Hall, Laktaši
| Crvena zvezda | Mega Bemax |
| Starters:PtsRebAst PG 10 Lazar Vasić 10 4 2 G 9 Arijan Lakić 7 5 5 G/F 11 Zoran Paunović 14 4 3 F 7 Nemanja Popović 11 9 0 F/C 13 Bojan Tomašević 13 5 0 Reserves: PG 4 Vukašin Mašić 0 0 1 SF 5 Ranko Simović DNP F 6 Luka Jovanović 0 0 0 SF 8 Uroš Isailović 0 0 0 C 12 Veljko Radaković 4 0 0 C 14 Miloš Ćojbašić DNP SG 15 Lazar Živanović 3 2 0 Head coach: Bojan Đerić | 2017–18 Junior ABA League Champions Mega Bemax U19 1st title MVP Goga Bitadze | Starters:PtsRebAst PG 12 Mihailo Jovičić 10 1 4 SG 44 Altin Islamović 1 2 0 SF 9 Andrija Marjanović 25 4 2 PF 8 Bogdan Nedeljković 16 7 3 C 15 Goga Bitadze 17 8 1 Reserves: PG 0 Vladan Musić 0 0 0 C 6 Mateja Jovanović 2 1 0 SF 7 Marko Kljajević 2 1 0 G/F 13 Luka Cerovina 0 5 1 F/C 14 Novak Mišković 2 0 0 PG 20 Pavle Kuzmanović 7 3 2 C 33 Amar Mehić 0 1 0 Head coach: Vlada Vukoičić |

## Awards

| Pos. | Player | Team |
| MVP ||||
| C | Goga Bitadze | Mega Bemax U19 |
| Ideal Starting Five ||||
| PG | Andrija Slavković | Budućnost VOLI U19 |
| SG | Zoran Paunović | Crvena zvezda U19 |
| SF | Andrija Marjanović | Mega Bemax U19 |
| PF | Dalibor Ilić | Igokea U19 |
| C | Goga Bitadze | Mega Bemax U19 |