Benetton Treviso underlined their current standing as the kings of Italy by holding off Scavolini Pesaro 85-76 on Saturday to capture the Coppa Italia for the second straight year and the sixth time in club history.

The men in green won the league, the Coppa Italia and Italian SuperCoppa last year.
Spanish international Jorge Garbajosa, who led Benetton with 21 points, was named Most Valuable Player of the Coppa this season. He also had 20 points in the quarter-final win over Metis Varese and 19 in the semi-final destruction of Oregon Scientific Cantu. Former Italy international Ricardo Pittis also added to his storybook career by winning his sixth Coppa to equal the number of times that Italian legend Dino Meneghin has tasted victory in the famous competition.

Italian basketball could hardly have asked for a more prestigious championship game because the two sides are at the top of the Lega standings with identical records of 17 victories and five defeats.

Montepaschi Siena have also won 17 of their 22 league games. They were upset
by Cantu in the quarter-finals. Cantu were then beaten 86-55 by Benetton in their semi-final.
Ettore Messina's Benetton, the men from the foot of the Alps, kept their noses in front throughout but Scavolini refused to go away.

Scavolini beat Lottomatica Roma 85-77 in the quarter-finals and then outgunned Fortitudo Bologna 101-92 in the last four to reach the title game and it seemed that a second Coppa win in their history could be on the way. Things looked promising when Alphonso Ford, who finished with a game-high 31 points, dunked after a Treviso turnover to pull Scavolini to within 70-68
but Maurice Evans went to the other end and scored with a short jumper to push the advantage back to four.

After another Benetton basket, Rodney Elliott made his third three-pointer of the game to close the deficit to 74-71 with just over three minutes to play. Shortly after, Messina brought Garbajosa back into the game for Denis Marconato and the move paid an immediate dividend.
Garbajosa received an entry pass down low from Pittis and scored to stretch the lead back to 76-71.

Aleksandar Djordevic, the former point guard for Yugoslavia's European Championship and World Championship winning sides in 1997 and '98, misfired with a three-pointer at the other end and Benetton's Evans grabbed the rebound. Benetton held on for the win and can now focus on the league in an attempt to win the double.