The Euroleague Basketball ADIDIAS NEXT GENERATION TOURNAMENT Qualifying Tournament – Torneo Citta di Roma tipped off with the host and defending champion U18 Stellazzurra Basketball Academy Rome holding on to beat U18 CSKA Moscow 68-62. Scott Ulaneo paced Stellazzurra in the first game of the ANGT Rome with 19 points including 11 of 12 free throws, seven rebounds, two assists, two steals, one block and 10 fouls drawn for a PIR ranking of 30. Sandro Mamukelashvili chipped in 12 points and seven rebounds while Giovanni Iannelli added 10 points in the Group A opener. CSKA dropped its first game despite 19 points from Mikhail Andrianov with Daniil Trostin and Andrei Lopatin both scoring 11 points. Alexander Khomenko had 10 points in a losing effort.

Andrianov scored the first points of the competition with a three-pointer for CSKA and Kirill Mikheev pushed the lead to 0-5. Lazar Nikolic hit Stellazzurra’s first points to make it 2-5. A Trostin three-ball extended the CSKA cushion to 2-8. Four Ulaneo free throws trimmed the gap to 8-10, and another two Ulaneo foul shots knotted the game at 13-13. Iannelli’s first basket of the contest gave the host team its first lead at 15-13 before two more Ulaneo free throws made it 17-13. Lopatin made two from the line and the score was 17-15 after 10 minutes. Ulaneo and Iannelli both made two free throws to start the second quarter and increase the cushion to 21-15. Andrianov got CSKA on the board with a trey and added four free throws and another basket, but Gugliermo Caruso scored three straight baskets for Stellazzurra to keep the Italian club ahead 25-24. And another score by Andrianov evened the game at 28-28. Mamukelashvili nosed Stellazzurra back ahead and Donato Vitale made it 32-28. Emanuele Trapani added four free throws as the Stellazzurra advantage grew to 38-32. But Lopatin’s two foul shots had CSKA down 38-34 at intermission.

After scoring 12 points in the first half, Ulaneo continued his superb game after the break with the first five points of the third quarter as Stellazzurra pulled away to a 43-34 lead – and a CSKA time out. Lopatin finally got CSKA on the scoreboard with a three-pointer and Stellazzurra’s offense stalled without a point for about four minutes. CSKA could not really get much going offensively with just two Andrianov free throws and a basket by Khomenko to trim the gap to 43-41. Mamukelashvili stopped the Stellazzurra drought and two baskets from Iannelli increased the margin to 49-42. Konstantin Shevchuk’s basket had CSKA to within 50-44 after 30 minutes. Trostin opened the fourth quarter scoring and the contest was even at 50-50 following Andrianov’s basket. Vitale’s three-ball was Stellazzurra’s first score of the final quarter before Lopatin made it 53-52. Andrianov was given an unsportsmanlike foul, which Stellazzurra turned into two Nikolic free throws and an Iannelli basket. Ulaneo followed with a fast break layup and Mamukelashvili nailed a three-pointer as Stellazzurra had its first double-digit lead 62-52 with 3:45 minutes left. Trostin stopped the Stellazzurra run and two Khomenko free throws cut the gap to six points. After a Mamukelashvili basket, Artem Kuzmin and Khomenko knocked down back-to-back three-pointers to pull CSKA to within 66-62 with a minute left. Stellazzurra turned the ball over but CSKA missed two three-point attempts and Vitale hit both free throws with 28 seconds to play for the final 68-62 scoreline.