The Torneo Citta di Roma once again has a new champion and it is none other than KK Spars Sarajevo. In the final game on Saturday night in Rome, Spars downed Fenerbahce Ulker Istanbul 73-55, finishing the tournament with a perfect 4-0 record and becoming the first team to earn a ticket to the final round of the Nike International Junior Tournament, which will be played from May 9 to 12, 2013, coinciding with the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Final Four!

 

Spars led from start to finish in the finals, opening the game with an 18-3 run, holding on to its advantage throughout the game and qualifying for the NIJT final tournament for the first time. Doko Salic ('95) led the winners with 29 points and 11 rebounds, and was named as the tournament MVP. Two of his teammates were named in the All-Tournament team - Aleksej Nikolic ('95) and Nedim Buza ('95) - along with Ruben Guerrero ('95) of Unicaja Malaga, Andreas Obst ('96) of Brose Baskets Bamberg, and Berk Ugurlu ('96) of Fenerbahce which will have to settle for the second place, as it did last year at Rome tourney. 

Earlier on Day 3, Brose Baskets Bamberg finished in third place after a 66-51 victory over Unicaja Malaga, hosting team Stella Azzurra Basketball Academy Rome crushed Virtus Bologna 84-57 to take fifth place, while Mas Mandoulides Thessaloniki is in seventh after downing Virtus Siena 61-49.

 

Final standings: 1. KK Spars Sarajevo, 2. Fenerbahce Ulker Istanbul, 3. Brose Baskets, 4. Unicaja Malaga, 5. Stellazzurra Roma, 6. Virtus Bologna, 7. Mas Mandoulides, 8. Virtus Siena

 

All Tournament-Team: Berk Ugurlu ('96), Aleksej Nikolic ('95), Andreas Obst ('96), Nedim Buza ('95) and Ruben Guerrero ('95)

 

MVP: Djoko Salic ('95)

 

Photo: Basketincontro.com