Alessandro Gentile ('92) has been the big name of the opening day of Torneo Città di Roma, the first U-18 Junior Euroleague Tournament of the season. The guard of Benetton Treviso crashed serbians of FMP Zeleznik (61-74) with 40 points (7/14 threes), 4 rebounds and 4 steals, showing why he is one of the best european players borned in '92. At serbian side center Nemanja Bezbradica ('93), one year younger than the italian, collected 23 points and 10 rebounds in only 29 minutes. Nenad Miljenovic ('93) finished with 12 points, 9 rebounds and 5 steals, even 9 turnovers, 6/17 twos and no three pointers attempted.
Lithuanians of Zalgiris Kaunas won both games they played at group A: 65-80 against Montepaschi Siena and 93-52 over Benetton Fribourg. In the first match forward Rolandas Jakstas ('92) led the winners with 13 points, 11 rebounds and 2 blocks. His teammate Tauras Jogela ('93), MVP of last U-16 European Championship, added 10 points in 17 minutes. Siena's guard Diego Monaldi ('93) was the best italian prospect with 23 and 4 assists. In the other game they crashed swiss team with youngster Augustinas Jankaitis ('94) collecting 18 points and 10 rebounds in 20 minutes. Point-guard Stefan Petkovic ('92) finished as the best swiss scorer with 18 points and 3/5 behind the arc.
CSKA Moscow started well its participation, with a close victory over Lottomatica Roma (66-64). Center Andrey Loginov ('93) led russians with 19 points, 12 rebounds (and 10 turnovers!), while point-guard Gianluca Marchetti ('93) scored 21 with 2/11 threes for italians.
Finally the other italian team in Rome, Stella Azzurra, finished the first day with a 1-1 balance: victory over Benetton Fribourg (47-68) and loss against Montepaschi (75-72). Against swiss team latvian Ojars Silins ('93) led the italians to the victory with 29 points and 7/10 threes, while forward Milos Bozovic ('92) scored 17 for losers. In the other game Silins shined again, but not enough: 21 points and 10 rebounds. The 26 points of Monaldi, one of the keys.
Standings.
Group A: Zalgiris (2-0), Montepaschi (1-1), Stella Azzurra (1-1) and Benetton Fribourg (0-2).
Group B: Benetton Treviso (1-0), CSKA (1-0), Lottomatica (0-1) and FMP (0-1).
Photo: FIBA Europe / Ciamillo-Castoria
