After being part of U-18 italian national team that won the U-18 Vilagarcia Cup in Spain Amedeo Tessitori ('94) and Matteo Imbrò ('94) came back quickly to their home country to help their team, Virtus Siena, in the U-17 Memorial Graziano Barilà tournament held in Varese. They arrived to the semifinals. Enough. Team coached by Umberto Vezzosi beat Khimki (76-62) and Cedevita in the big final (74-67). Tessitori, a 2.01 power-forward, scored 24 and 23 points in both contests, being selected the MVP. Let's check other details of the tournament.

 

Virtus Siena ended the first round unbeaten after winning Irte Busto A. (94-61), Cimberio Varese (59-85) and England NT (58-70). In the eightfinals Virtus beat Bergamo (87-80), while in quarterfinals they knocked out Robur et Fides (97-62) with a crazy show from Corrado Bianconi ('94) at three-points line (6/6). In semifinals against russians of Khimki Tessitori led the victory with 24 points, while Imbrò added 12. At the losing effort youngster Vasily Martynov ('95) nailed 18 points. In the final against croatians of Cedevita Tessitori had 23 and Imbrò 12. Riccardo Rovere ('94), awarded as the best tournament scorer, helped with 19 points. At croatian side Antun Hrkac ('94) scored 13 points.

 

Final standings: 1-Virtus Siena, 2-Cedevita, 3-Khimki, 4-Team Ohio, 5-Umana Reyer Venezia, 6-Arona, 7-Armani Milano, 8-Robur et Fides Varese, 9-Bennet Cantu, 10-Cimberio Varese, 11-PMS Torino, 12-Bluorobica Bergamo, 13-England NT, 14-Gorgonzola, 15-Scavolini Vuelle Pesaro and 16-Hungary NT.

 

Photo: A.T.