By Cesare Milanti / info@eurohoops.net
TURIN, Italy – In back-to-back fashion, in 2017 and 2018, Dolomiti Energia Trentino was just a few games away from becoming Italian League champions, losing just in the LBA Finals.
Those times seemed gone as the black-and-white side lost the role of a contender in the LBA, with Milan and Virtus Bologna emerging as a two-headed monster duo competing for the big trophies.
However, tonight the team from the Alps wrote the club’s history, beating the powerhouse Milan 79-63 to claim their first top-tier title by putting their hands on the Italian Cup.
In a game full of ups and downs, that started with an 11-0 run by Trento immediately followed by a 10-0 from Milan, Jordan Ford was Paolo Galbiati’s highest scorer with 23 points over a perfect 9/9 from the free throw line.
“It feels amazing, we’ve been working really hard. This was a goal of ours, it was a total team effort: everybody played a big part. We can see the improvement week by week, by anybody. We all just play together,” Trento’s guard commented after the game.
Anthony Lamb dedicated the Italian Cup’s victory to Trento’s captain Toto Forray, with the team since 2011:
“We got Toto a championship, he has been here for so long. It’s been a blessing to be able to play with him as a captain, he’s amazing”. pic.twitter.com/GIGG3YxbC4
— Cesare Milanti (@cesaremilanti) February 16, 2025
Quinn Ellis (14 points, 4 rebounds) and Anthony Lamb (12 points) were crucial too. He dedicated the win to Toto Forray. “We got Toto a championship, he has been here for so long. It’s been a blessing to be able to play with him as a captain, he’s amazing,” he said about the captain.
The 2004-born forward Saliou Niang, just called up by the Italian national team, added 8 points and 7 rebounds. Myles Cale (9 points) put the icing on the cake with a clutch three in the final minutes.
On Ettore Messina’s team, which started the fourth quarter down 59-48, the impact of Nikola Mirotic (20 points) and Zach LeDay (12 points) wasn’t enough. Against his former team, Shavon Shields had 9 points and 6 rebounds.
For the third straight edition, Milan couldn’t put their hands on the trophy following Brescia’s victory in 2023 and Napoli’s win in 2024.
Following last year’s 80-57 win by Milan in the Quarter-Finals against Trento, they now got their revenge with a huge performance in the second half. At 6:24 left, they were up by 17 points (67-50).
LBA Final Eight 2025
Quarter-Finals
- Germani Brescia – Bertram Derthona Tortona 86-79
- Virtus Segafredo Bologna – EA7 Emporio Armani Milan 77-91
- Dolomiti Energia Trentino – UNAHOTELS Reggio Emilia 85-80
- Trapani Shark – Pallacanestro Trieste 72-74
Semi-Finals
- Germani Brescia – EA7 Emporio Armani Milan 69-74
- Dolomiti Energia Trentino – Pallacanestro Trieste 82-79
Final
EA7 Emporio Armani Milan – Dolomiti Energia Trentino 63-79
PHOTO CREDIT: EA7 Emporio Armani Milan