Stellazzurra Basketball Academy Rome is returning to the final of the ADIDAS NEXT GENERATION TOURNAMENT after beating Cedevita Zagreb 57-50 to take first place in Group A in Rome. Stellazzurra went on a 20-1 run over a 9:26-minute stretch spanning the third and fourth quarters to improve to 3-0 in the group. Andrea La Torre led Rome with 16 points, six rebounds and four steals while Nicola Savoldelli added seven points, three rebounds, three assists and three steals for Stellazzurra, which returns to the final with a berth for the final event in Madrid during the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Final Four up for grabs. Stellazzurra lost the Rome final last winter to Cajasol Seville. Cedevita dropped to third place with a 1-2 record despite 10 points each from Lovro Mazalin and Luka Barisic. Tomislav Durinovic collected nine points, five rebounds, two assists and three steals in the loss.

La Torre scored five points as Stellazzurra moved ahead 9-6. Neither team could really pull away in the first quarter as Cedevita’s biggest lead was the 11-14 advantage after 10 minutes. Barisic increased the lead to 11-16 and Cedevita would eventually pull away slightly, pushing the margin to 20-28 and even 24-33 at intermission.

Cedevita appeared to be in control of the game in the third quarter, leading 24-35 and the gap was still 29-39 with 3:51 minutes left in the quarter. But Todor Radonjic and Savoldelli both nailed three balls to cut the gap to 38-39 and Kristinn Palsson’s triple with two seconds left in the third quarter gave Stellazzurra a 41-40 lead. The advantage continued to grow as Lazar Nikolic nailed back-to-back three-balls to push the lead to 49-40. Mazalin’s two free throws with 4:23 minutes left to play ended the 20-1 run over more than 9 minutes to make it 49-42. Cedevita tried to fight back into the game and finally hit its only basket of the fourth quarter on Karlo Miksic’s three-pointer to make it 53-50. But La Torre and Savoldelli both made two free throws in the final minute to secure the victory.