Stella Azzurra earned its first win,47-68 in the Citta Di Roma tournament on the second game of the first day against Benetton Fribourg on a Sunday afternoon in Rome, Italy. The tournament is the first of four qualifying tournaments to determinate the participants of the Nike International Junior Tournament to be held during the 2010 Euroleague Final Four in Paris, France. The Latvian forward Ojars Silins of Stella enjoyed a big third quarter with 11 points to break a close first half score, and allow his team a safe victory. Silinis finished the game with 29 points, 19 of them he scored in the second half. Silins also wrote today seven three pointers in 70%, almost twice as much as the entire team of Benetton scored today from the arc. Stefan Petkovic contributed 14 points for Benetton but only three of those came in the deciding half. Milos Bozovic added 17 with 9 rebounds.
A close first half saw both teams enter the locker room break separated by four points, 27-23 in favor of Stella. Petkovic collected for Fribourg 11 points and 5 rebounds by the break while Silins started to example his handle. Midway through the third period, when the scoreboard showed a 33-33 tie, the Latvian scorer took charge. He combined 8 points in a 15-2 run, and added five more once the fourth quarter started. Down by 22 already Fribourg fought back but could only cut down on the gap, and finished its debut down by 21 points, 68-47.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Yarone Arbel, Euroleague.net