By Luca Virgilio
Virtus Bologna won the U19 Italian National Championship beating Montepaschi Siena in the big final (69-62). Let's see what happened in the competition step by step:
Quarterfinal: The quarter-finals didn't give great surprises. Biella, according to many experts favored for the title, succeeded with a bit of difficulty to beat Casale Monferrato: 60-48 thanks to 18 points from Magarity and especially thanks to the coming back of Lagana, recovered from fever. In the second challenge Virtus Bologna won 78-64 on Comark Bergamo with a super Fontecchio (21 points) and thanks to the important plays by Imbrò (10 points) and Fantinelli (10 points). Montepaschi Siena set rather easily on Stella Azzurra with the final result of 82-51 with a good team's performance and especially with an excellent Severini (26 points). In the last quarter-final Virtus Roma performed a little surprise eliminating Virtus Siena in a really intense game that ended 62-54, with Rome led by the points of Ferrarese and Montesi, while for Virtus Siena played well Tessitori (15 points) and 1995 prospect Reali (18 points).
Semifinal: The first semifinal was between Virtus Bologna and Banca Sella Biella and faced perhaps the two most talented teams in the tournament. Bologna dominated the match from the first possession mainly due to the extraordinary game of Aristide Landi (PF, 6'7'') who ended with 26 points (9/16 FG and 6/6 free throws and 35 of evaluation), while Biella failed to respond well due to poor performance of his best player Magarity (only 6 points with 3/6 from 2). The game ended 87-67 and Bologna stopped the amazing Biella's series of 26 consecutive victories. In the second semifinal Montepaschi Siena 67-42 won against Virtus Roma in a game never really questioned. Rome tried but Siena had more experience with players like Monaldi, Udom and Severini who have already played these kind of contests. Siena won and convinced, and found a very important player in Magrini, who ended the game with 17 points and 5/15 FG.
Final: In the final for the first challenge Virtus Bologna faced Montepaschi Siena, the two teams that will undoubtedly have proved to be stronger during that week in Udine. Bologna started strong led by Landi, who after an excellent performance in the semifinals didn't stop even in this game, and he scored 16 points with 4/6 in three-pointers. Siena seemed to suffer but Monaldi (17 points with 6/21 FG) didn't surrender and fought to keep open the game. At half-time Bologna was ahead by ten points thanks to good shooting from three-point percentage (9/21 at the end of the game). But Siena was still alive and Udom tried to react with a powerful dunk that reconciled his team at -8 with ten minutes left to play. Bologna, however, did not lose concentration and Person (11 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists with 23 of evaluation) and Imbrò (15 points) scored the baskets that hold the final victory.
In addition the individual awards given by the organizers of the event:
MVP: Aristide Landi ('94, Virtus Bologna)
All-Tournament Team: Diego Monaldi ('93, Montepaschi Siena), Matteo Fantinelli ('93, Virtus Bologna), Eric Lombardi ('93, Biella), Rei Pullazi ('93, Virtus Roma) and Aristide Landi ('94, Virtus Bologna)
Top Scorer: Amedeo Tessitori ('94, Virtus Siena)
Best Coach: Marco Sanguettoli (Virtus Bologna)
We believe that would be right a prize for youngster 6'6'' guard Simone Fontecchio ('95), who was one of the keys of Virtus Bologna's title. He ended this event with 16.5 points, 34/42 for 2, 7/17 for three shots and 15 of evaluation.
Twitter of the author: @lucavirgilio
Photo: FIP
