By Luca Virgilio

 

Great days of basketball in Italy during the Easter period with all the teams of the best youth sector who faced each other on the basketball courts of all the Italian peninsula. The most important tournament for the U19 category was definitely the Memorial Raspino played in Biella and the teams present were: Stella Azzurra, Trenkwalder Reggio Emilia, Bergamo Blu Orobica and Biella. The tournament was won by the Stella Azzurra of Coach D'Arcangeli who won the final against Biella 86-79 with 22 points from Mateo Falluca ('93, Stella Azzurra) and 22 by Niccolò De Vico ('94, Biella). In the match for third and fourth place Trenkwalder was defeated by the Blu Orobica Bergamo with the result of 93-90 with 20 points of Ojars Silins ('93, Reggio Emilia) and 30 for Alessandro Spatti ('95, Bergamo). Best player of the tournament award was for De Vico.

For the U17 category the most interesting tournament was the Memorial Malagoli played in Novellara between Pallacanestro Novellara, Udine Basket Club, Stella Azzurra, Virtus Padova, Pallacanestro Reggiana Trenkwalder, Novy Jicin, Cerak Belgrado, Scaligera Verona. The tournament was won by the Stella Azzura in the final against TrenkwalderReggio Emilia with a score of 80-75, with 23 points Bouah (Stella Azzurra) and 22 for the Jordan Classic Mussini (Reggio Emilia), while the top scorer of the competition was Kutilek of Novy Jicin with an average of 21.2 points per game.

In Italy for the players born in 1997 there is the custom to play the "Trophy of the Regions" a tournament where the best players play divided into the 20 Italian regions by referring to the club where the players belong. This year the trophy was won by Lombardia, led by the MVP of the event  Savoldelli of Blue Orobica Bergamo, the best scorer was  Timperi of Basketball Pescara while the top 5 players were PG Caroti (Cecina Basketball), SG Savoldelli (Blue Orobica Bergamo), SF La Torre (Stella Azzurra), PF Vercellino (CUS Torino) and C Nwohuocha (Bennet Cantu).

The most prestigious tournament for players U14 was without doubt the "NoviPiù Cup" played in Casale, the teams that participated were: Cantu, Genoa, Junior Casale, Virtus Siena, Virtus Bologna, Armani Jeans Milano, Montepaschi Siena and Benetton Treviso. Montepaschi Siena has won the trophy for winning Benetton Treviso on 73-61 thanks to 16 points from Santucci (Monteaschi Siena, on loan from the Tiber in Rome), best player and best scorer of the event was chosen Tommaso Oxilia (Virtus Bologna, on loan from ASD Loano). Oxilia, with his 6'5'', is one of the most interesting Italian prospects and has already attracted the attention of many clubs in the Lega A as Olimpia Milano, Reyer Venezia, Siena and Virtus Bologna.

 

Twitter of the author: @LucaVirgilio

 

Photo: Stella Azzurra (Matteo Falluca)