MANISA (Türkiye) - Rytas Vilnius have just been crowned back-to-back champions of the Youth Basketball Champions League after a dominant 109-76 win over Filou Oostende in Manisa, on Sunday night.
Their captain and talisman, Ignas Urbonas was also named back-to-back Most Valuable Player after another unstoppable performance in the Final where he had 26 points, 9 rebounds, and 5 asissts, whilst shooting 69 percent from the field.
Shooting guard Urbonas opened his account in Season 3 with 19 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 steals on 86 percent shooting against Pallacanestro Reggiana on April 23.
He followed that up with 13 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds the following day against the hosts, Manisa BBSK.
With that win came qualification for the Semi-Finals and a date with Tofas Bursa, the only other club to reach the podium in every edition of the YBCL to date.
Urbonas turned up the heat on his Turkish rivals with 22 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists whilst shooting 71 percent.
That win secured a place in the Final and a matchup with the hot-shooting Filou Oostende, who had returned to the YBCL after a 1 year hiatus and boasted two of the top eight ranked players in the tournament MVP Race: Tim Waerniers and Daan Pieters.
The Belgians put up a spirited fight, but such was Rytas' dominance in this year's tournament that the contest was already decided by the time the buzzer sounded at the end of the second quarter.
Rytas won their four games by an average of 44 points en route to the title and Urbonas was the driving force behind each commanding performance.
The young Lithuanian star finished with tournament averages of 20.0 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 4.5 assists on 74 percent shooting.
Those numbers marked an improvement on his MVP campaign last year that saw him put up 19.0 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 2.6 assists and according to Urbonas, he is only getting better.
"I’d say my game has improved improved a lot - a year is a long time," he said before explaining that despite winning the MVP in Year 2 whilst playing up a year himself, the biggest strides he's made haven't even been on the physical side of his game.
"Decision-making and game IQ, I’ve worked on a lot, tried to improve, and I think I've changed quite a bit over the year," Urbonas stated.
Based on his performances and leadership this year it's impossible to argue against his point.
Urbonas has shown the ability to show a sense of timing when to make a play for himself and when to make a play for his team.
With growth in his game like this, it's surely a matter of time before we see Urbonas making regular contributions for Rytas Vilnius in the Basketball Champions League.
In the meantime, it may be some time before we see anyone repeat his feat of winning back-to-back MVP awards in the YBCL.
Urbonas and his Rytas generation have truly left an indelible mark on the early years of this tournament.