By Luca Virgilio
In Rome, from the 7 to the 9 of September, has been played the first Memorial Mario Delle Cave at Stella Azzurra, organized in honor of Mario Delle Cave, a talented young Italian player, who died last year in a motorbike accident.
It was a very interesting tournament, organized with the collaboration of Livexperience, where Under 19 teams still at the beginning of the season competed in very tough games and at the end of a wonderful final versus Virtus Roma, Stella Azzurra wins 70-66. This are the complete results of the competition:
Group A: Group B:
Stella Azzurra 3-0 Virtus Roma 3-0
PMS Torino 2-1 BPA Valdiceppo 2-1
Tiber 1-2 Juve Caserta 1-2
Aquila Basket Trento 0-3 Palestrina 0-3
Final 1/2: Stella Azzurra - Virtus Roma 70-66 (Stella: Grande 18, Tambone 22)
Final 3/4: PMS Torino - BPA Valdiceppo 65-70 (Torino: Antonietti 17, BPA: Meschini 18)
Final 5/6: Tiber - Juve Caserta 92-94 dts (Tiber: Ridolfi 20, Caserta: Marini 29)
Final 6/7: Trento - Palestrina 69-74 (Trento: Gurreri 20, Palestrina: Cianfanelli 30)
The most interesting players in this tournament:
Alessandro Grande (1994, 180 cm, Play, Stella Azzurra): he is a player I like a lot, he was close to the convocation for the European Under 18 this summer, and I think it's one of the most interesting point guards of his year. Grande is a complete player: he has a good shot by two points and also a very reliable three-point shot, his defense is is hard to overcome and he has very quick hands that allow him to recover many balls. Maybe sometimes he is not perfect in the offensive readings, but he is a player that made me a good impression.
Umberto Meschini (1994, 186 cm, Guard, BPA Valdiceppo): was a surprise for me. He is a really strong physically player and he is able to attack any defense thanks to its power and its explosivity. Meschini is a key factor in the attack but becomes important especially in defense with his body because he can on small forward defend successfully and and he is also a very good rebounder. For me, he is the prototype of the modern guard, but I think it may have some difficulty when he'll pass with the Pro.
Matteo Tambone (1994, 190 cm, Play, Virtus Roma): is growing rapidly and he has great confidence especially in this period for the many minutes he is playing in the preseason with the first team of Virtus Roma (Lega A). He is a ordered player without a great natural talent but he has the ability to make always the best choice for the team and the thing that impressed me much is that he never misses the important shots.
Matteo Trovato (1996, 201 cm, Center, PMS Torino): had some physical problems that limited him but he made me a good impression. He played on par with players older than him by two years and hasn't absolutely suffered the difference of age. After that he played a good Under 16 European with Italy, he proved to be a player with an interesting prespective.
Andrea La Torre (1997, 200 cm, Guard, Stella Azzurra): I think he is the most interesting Italian player at the moment. He has the ability to play without problems against opponents bigger than him by three years and the most impressive thing is that if you want to make the basket, he makes the basket as he did with the three point buzzer beater against Trento. La Torre is a complete player in attack but of course he's still inexperienced and he has to work hard to continue to be a high level player.
Photo: Basketincontro
Twitter of the author: @LucaVirgilio
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