Stellazzurra zooms past Zaragoza for 2-0 record

U18 Stellazzurra Rome collected its second victory in two games at the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Istanbul by easing past U18 Casademont Zaragoza 90-62 in Group A. Nicola Giordano scored 17 points and Nicolo Virginio had 14 points for Stellazzurra, which reached the ANGT Championship Game in 2018. Matteo Visintin and Benjamin Marchiaro both chipped in 12 points for the Italian side which will face off against U18 Anadolu Efes Istanbul in Round 3 with the winner reaching the first-place game. Zaragoza dropped to 0-2 in the group despite Lucas Langarita scoring 15 points while Gustav Knudsen added 9 points and 7 rebounds in the loss.

Giordano scored eight points as Stellazzurra jumped ahead 10-0. Zaragoza did not score in the first 3 minutes until Alvaro Martinez’s basket. Antonio Moreno added a triple and Zaragoza was within 14-11 before a 9-3 Stellazzurra surge for a 23-14 lead after 10 minutes. Kaspar Kuusmaa started the second quarter with four points and the margin grew to 30-14. Lucas Maglietti added a triple and Stellazzurra’s advantage was 37-19. Zaragoza tried to get back into the game with Langarita and Javier Fernandez hitting triples to pull within 43-35. And the score was 45-35 at intermission.

Giordano made sure Stellazzurra started the second half well with four points in an 8-3 beginning to push the cushion to 53-38. Dino Bocevski converted a three-point play to help increase the lead even more to 64-44, and the gap was 69-48 after 30 minutes. Stellazzurra did not let up in the final frame with the first six points and not allowing a Zaragoza basket for the first 5 minutes of the fourth quarter. Marchiaro followed that with six points in an 11-0 run to decide the game for sure 88-51.