Founded in 1974 as Auxilium Pallacanestro Torino, the club was born when two squads, Oratorio Salesiano Agnelli and Libertas Pallacanestro Asti, decided to merge. Even though Asti dated back to 1954 and Agnelli started its basketball activities in 1966, Auxilium started to compete in the Italian elite with Lajos Toth as its first coach. It finished seventh overall and qualified for European competitions. The 1975-76 season was bittersweet, as Turin went down to the Italian second division, but found great success in the Korac Cup. With John Laing as its best player alongside Bruno Riva and Alberto Marietta, Turin eliminated FC Barcelona in the group stage and downed Joventut Badalona in the semifinals after losing by 24 in the first leg, but getting a 79-54 victory in the second leg of the two-game total-points series to win it by 1 point and advance to the finals. Jugoplastika Split prevailed in the title series, even though Laing averaged 31.5 points in the two games. The club returned to the Italian elite in 1978 and, led by John Grochowalski and Romeo Sacchetti, reached the playoffs in the 1979-80 season. In 1982, the then-named Berloni Torino ranked second in the Italian League regular season, but was eliminated by soon-to-be champ Billy Milan in the semifinals. Turin would return to the Italian semifinals in 1984, 1985 and 1986, but never reached the finals. In 1986 and 1987, Turin played in the Korac Cup, but the team lost its competitiveness at the end of the 1980s and returned to the second division in 1989. It immediately bounced back to Serie A1 for three more years, but by the end of the 20th century, Turin was in the Italian fifth division and had to merge with Pallacanestro Cerea Collegno. By 2008, Auxilium ceased to exist. A new club, PMS Torino, was formed in 2011 and managed to work its way up to the Italian first division by 2015. It then acquired Auxilium's name and rights and after a season in the Italian League, Fiat became its new title sponsor. Fiat Turin won the Italian Cup last season, the club's first title, by dismissing Umana Reyer Venice, Vanoli Cremona and Brescia Leonessa in order to lift the trophy. A layup by Sasha Vujacic in the final seconds of the title game gave Fiat a 69-67 victory and the cup. It also did well in its 7DAYS EuroCup debut by making it to the Top 16. The club is set to keep growing, with more experience, Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown on board and an exciting fan base ready to push Fiat to great heights.
Trophy Case
Italian National Cup: 2018 |