By Luca Virgilio

 

Last weekend was played in Lissone the twenty-first edition of the Junior International Tournament, one of the most prestigious tournaments in Italy and Europe thanks to the participation of some of the best european teams and also thanks to the participation of Under 19 teams from the U.S. and from Canada.

 

This year the tournament was won by Team Ohio that in the Final game beat the Reyer Venezia with the final score of 77-74, led by the MVP of competition Mark Donnal (PF, 6'8''), future star of the Big Ten Conference with Michigan, and also thanks to the performance of Nigel Hayes (PF, 6'7''), who next year will wear the jersey of Wisconsin. Reyer Venezia finished second and they played a high level tournament, showing a lot of pure talent with young prospect like Nicola Akele (G, 6'6'', 1995) and Vincenzo Pipitone (P, 6'7'') awarded as Most Complete Player of the competition. Another team that has done good things was the Stellazzurra Basketball Academy led by Alessandro Grande (PG, 5'10'') and that can count for the future on rising star as Andrea La Torre (G, 6'7'', 1997) and Kristinn Palsson (G, 6'6'', 1997), who has been awarded as best young player of the Junior International Tournament. 

 

This was a very high quality tournament and many coaches or talent scouts came to see young talent play like for example the first coach of the Greek National team Andrea Trinchieri or the ex coach of Milan and Treviso Sasha Djordjevic.   

 

Final Four: 

Stellazzurra Basketball Academy - Reyer Venezia 57-68

USK Praga - Team Ohio 61-69

 

Final: 

1-2 place: Reyer Venezia - Team Ohio 74-77 (VE: Vilder 19, Zennaro 15. T.O: Donnal 19, Garber 11)   

3-4 place: Stellazzurra Basketball Academy - USK Praga 78-71 

 

Final Standing: 

1. Team Ohio

2. Reyer Venezia

3. Stellazzurra Basketball Academy

4. USK Praga

5. Assigeco Casalpusterlengo

6. US Elite Select

7. Toronto Basket Club

8. Norkoping Doplhins

9. Armani Junior Milan

10. Rimadesio Desio

11. Cocoon Lissone

12. Selekcija Rijeka

 

Individual Awards:

 

MVP: Mark Donnal (Team Ohio)

Most Complete Player: Vincenzo Pipitone (Reyer Venezia)

Best Scorer: Josh Hart (US Elite Select) 

Best Young Player: Kristinn Palsson (Stellazzurra Basketball Academy)