Torneo di Trieste claimed by Italy


The finals of the Torneo di Trieste saw Italy become champions of the pre-season friendly tournament by defeating Serbia 80-71. It was the Azzurri’s eleventh win in a successful pre-season as they lifted the prize after a hard fought game with an often exciting Serbia team.

Alessandro Gentile typically led Italy from the tip off and registered the first four points of the game to give the blues an early advantage. Luigi Datome continued his impressive pre-season as he pushed the Italians to a first quarter lead of 22-11 over an overrun Serbia. Datome finished the frame with 13 points to his name, while Gentile paid the price for a double foul by sitting out some minutes during the quarter.

In the second stanza the Serbians sparked into life and started to put their talent on the court as they pursued the Torneo di Trieste. The Serbs looked far more impressive in defence and hustled more in attack to pick up more consistency through the net. A strong Serbian defensive perimeter meant that Italy found scoring hard and resorted to distance shooting, with many of the three point efforts not finding the scoreboard. At halftime Serbia had turned the game around, but still trailed by 2 points, with the score at 37-35.

The physicality of the game grew in the third quarter as the contest became more bruising. Serbia were willing to mix it with bodies in both keys, but Italy proved more impressive off the board, with Galatasaray’s new signing Pietro Aradori taking 8 rebounds through the game. Milos Teodosic and Miroslav Raduljica started pacing the Serbian charge, with 8 and 11 points respectively in the third quarter. It was enough of an effort for the Serbs to hold the lead for the first time, with the score sitting at 49-52 after 30 minutes.

In the last quarter Italy once again found a consistent scoring rhythm, this time through Stefano Gentile who poured in 13 points in total through the game, but was pivotal in the final stanza. The Azzurri pushed through the frame and remained tight at the defensive end to secure the win.

Alessandro Gentile secured 20 points, while Datome acquired 17 and Stefano Gentile took 13 points for the winning effort.

Leave a Comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.