Amedeo Della Vallehas been prepared well and then did his job in leading Italy to a huge 101-82 win over Poland, in Bologna, getting a lot closer to the World Cup qualification (5-2 the overall record, good to stay in second place behind the undeafeated Lithuania). Della Valle scored 28 points, one shy from his National Team record of 29 (against Romania) and break the World Cup Euroepan qualifiers record for most threes made in one game with eight (on 11). Della Valle had his fourth “over 20” game in the qualifiers and now his second overall in points per game with 20.0 per game. Olimpia gave Italy a big lift because Jeff Brooks, in his first-ever game with the National Team, had an oustanding all-around game scoring 16 points, making seven of his eight shots to go along three steals. Andrea Cinciarini was instrumental in Italy’s getting away in the fourth. He scored eight points. All of them played huge minutes. 29 for Brooks and Della Valle more than 21 for Cinciarini. Italy will be back on the court on Monday in Hungary.

Lithuania won 84-83 in Croatia in a tough night for the two Olimpia players. Arturas Gudaitis had early foul problems and finished with two points and five rebounds in 20 minutes. Mindaugas Kuzminskas, also scored two points but added six boards in 24 minutes. Both of them were starters. Nemanja Nedovic’ Serbia will face Estonia on Sunday in Belgrade.