Stellazzurra rolls past Brno to start with win

U18 Stellazzurra Rome tipped off its Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Istanbul with a 65-82 victory over U18 Basket Brno thanks to a big third quarter. Nicola Giordano and Benjamin Marchiaro both scored 18 points to lead the way in the Group A game for Stellazzurra, which spoiled Brno’s debut in the ANGT competition. Nicolo Virginio added 12 points and Matteo Visitin flirted with a triple-double, picking up 11 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists and 8 steals for the Italian club, which took the third quarter 11-22. Brno committed 22 turnovers and hit just 32.5% on 2-pointers and 28.6% from long range in its first ANGT game. Jakub Necas was the Czech club’s leading scorer with 13 points while Ondrej Hustak scored 11 points and Lukas Olbort had 10 points.

Stellazzurra went ahead 0-4 when Necas hit a three-pointer for Brno’s first points in the history of the competition. It was 11-12 when Stellazzurra took control with a 3-15 run with Virginio knocking down two three-pointers for 10 points and the 14-27 lead. Jan Polivka hit two triples and Brno was down 20-29 after 10 minutes. Brno closed within 29-31 only to see Stellazzurra race back ahead by nine points, 29-38. And the score was 36-43 at intermission.

Stellazzurra failed to score for the first 3 minutes of the second half but kept Brno without a point for 4 minutes and led 36-47. It was 41-51 when Stellazzurra went on a 4-14 run including a Marchiaro triple and Giordano three-point play for a 45-65 lead. And it was 47-65 after 30 minutes. Stellazzurra opened the final frame on a 2-7 spurt to pull ahead 49-72. Necas answered with two baskets to pull within 53-72, but Brno could not come up with defensive stops to get back into the game.