Stella Azzurra Basketball Academy Rome won its first game of the Nike International Junior Tournament with a comprehensive 77-61 victory over Mas Mandoulides Thessaloniki. The local team knew that it would need a huge win to overtake Unicaja Malaga and grab second in Group A, but Mas Mandoulides made things difficult early on and prevented it from happening. Stella Azzurra ends the group stage in third, with a 1-1 record, while winless Mas Mandoulidis will have one final chance to take a victory in Rome on the final day of action on Saturday. The first quarter was tremendously tight, ending 19-18, but Stella Azzurra pulled away halfway through the second. The Italians carved out a double-digit lead that it would maintain and extend throughout the third quarter. Mas Mandoulides pulled the difference back to single-digits briefly in the final period, but Stella Azzurra proved to be too strong and dominated the final minutes. Diego Terenzi was the focal point of the Italian attack, knocking down 23 points, while Valerio Cucci’s 11 points and 8 rebounds was also an important contribution. The game’s top scorer was Mas Mandoulidis’ Antreas Christodoulou with 25, and his greatest help came from Ioannis Kouzeloglou’s 16 points.