New Hawk Marco Belinelli was named MVP of the Trentino Basket Cup after leading his native Italy to the championship over the weekend.
Belinelli scored 14 points in a 66-57 championship game victory over the Netherlands Sunday. On Saturday, Italy cruised past Belarus 96-36, and Belinelli scored 10.
The Trentino Cup is an annual friendly tournament hosted by Italy and consistng of four teams. This year, the Netherlands joined Ukraine and Belarus to round out the field. The tournament is played over two days, with the winners from day one playing in the championship and the losers playing in the consolation game. Belarus bounced back to defeat Ukraine 77-74 in the third place game.
Italy is tuning up for EuroBasket 2017, which begins Aug. 31. Belinelli and the Italians open with Israel. Dennis Schröder is also expected to compete in EuroBasket 2017 when Germany opens against Ukraine the same day.