Zalgiris Kaunas and Benetton Treviso will play tomorrow the final of the Euroleague U-18 Città di Roma tournament after finishing first in their groups. Lithuanians, after starting yesterday with a 2-0 record, beat today Stella Azzurra (116-63) with forward Rolandas Jakstas ('92) -at the pic- as its most rated player: 15 points, 8 rebounds and 1 block in only 18 minutes. For italian team latvian Ojars Silins ('93) collected 17 with 5/8 behind the arc.
Benetton Treviso started yesterday with 1-0, and today they've beat CSKA Moscow after two overtimes (88-82) and they lost against Lottomatica Roma (53-66). In the first game Alessandro Gentile ('92) scored 35 points with a crazy 2/19 threes (!!!). The guard missed the first 16 and he scored two in a row in the second overtime to led the winners. For russians center Andrey Loginov ('93) finished with 22 points, 17 rebounds and 3 assists. In the second game Rome team beat them with Riccardo Ciavarroni ('92) adding 12 points and 3 rebounds. For Treviso squad, with Gentile k.o. due to a morning injury, bulgarian Pavlin Ivanov ('93) scored 18 points, grabbed 7 rebounds and dished 1 assist.
Today FMP Zeleznik won both games, but serbians haven't qualifyied for the final because they lost against Benetton in the opening day. Against Lottomatica Roma, 81-66 with rising star Nenad Miljenovic ('93) close to the triple-double: 9 points, 9 assists, 8 rebounds and 5 steals in only 20 minutes. At italian side Alessandro di Pasquale ('92) collected 15 and 2 steals. In the other battle FMP beat CSKA (66-58) with center Nemanja Bezbradica ('93) shining: 15 points, 8 rebounds and 1 block. Forward Alexander Tikhonin ('92) finished with 15 points, 4 rebounds and 3 blocks.
Finally Montepaschi Siena lost against Benetton Fribourg (53-60). Swiss team was led by guard Stefan Petkovic ('92), with 20 points, 3 rebounds and 2 steals. For the losers center Francesco Ramenghi ('92) finished with 8 points, 12 rebounds and 1 block.
Standings.
Group A: Zalgiris (3-0), Stella Azzurra (1-2), Montepaschi (1-2) and Fribourg (1-2).
Group B: Benetton Treviso (2-1), FMP (2-1), CSKA (1-2) and Roma (1-2).
Photo: NKL
