Aurora Basket Jesi, also known for sponsorship reasons as Fileni Jesi [1] is an Italian professional basketball team from the town of Jesi.
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In that far 1965, Gianni Rossetti (a RAI - National TV Network - journalist), Carlo Barchiesi (current president) and Primo Novelli (who used to be in charge of the junior teams) who set up Aurora Basket couldn’t foresee such a successful future for their “new born team”.
It was in those years that Springoil, the most important basketball team of the city at that time, was very close to move up to the A League (the highest division of Italian professional basketball), but it wound up due to economical problems. (This team was set up by Ottorino Apolloni and since he died, a pre-season game is held in his memory every year).
Hence immediately there was the need to re-launch basketball in Jesi. The first step was taken by Roberto Vigo. Also Roberto Mancini, one of the most popular soccer players in Italy, used to play in the ground of his parish when he was a child. Roberto Vigo proposed to Gianni Rossetti to set up a basketball team inside the Aurora Group.
This way Aurora Basket was officially set up by the managers Rossetti, Barchiesi and Novelli together with President Mario Gherardi.
The first season 1965/1966 was in the first Regional division and the team moved up only three years later. The team experienced a slow growth in the first years, but then it started to grow gradually when other new managers and the first sponsors joined the team and when the junior teams were started. At the same time, the senior team became more and more successful and only after 10 years Aurora moved up to an important national division (called D division) in the 1973/74 season. Since then the team has always attended National Championships.
During the first years in the D division the team used to practice in the Jesi fencing Club gym (a very successful sport in Jesi thanks to Mr. Cerioni and Misses Trillini and Vezzali, who both won the Olympic Games). Then a new gym near the football ground in the San Sebastiano area in Prato Road was built. After a few unsuccessful years, the team was close to move up and achieved the C/2 division in the 79/80 thanks to a perfect mix of local players and players from upper divisions, such as Giovannini, Carnevali and Castelli from Fabriano and Paccapelo from Lineaerre Team Pesaro (who became member of the F.I.P. later). The first experience in the C/2 league ended up with the playoffs which were won by the Montegranaro team. Aurora Basket realized it was time to aim at greater and more ambitious goals. Basketball was becoming popular in the city and the team had many spectators. The following year the team was very close to move up to C/1 division, but lost the final game against the Barcellona team (the current Messina team) in Formia.
The promotion arrived two years later, in the 1983/1984 season, when the team started the championship without any sponsors and expectations. At the end of the regular season the team was ranked number two and won the playoffs vs the Matelica team in the finals. The first year in C/1 division was unsuccessful. The team was in a very tough standing and at the end of the regular season ranked last, moving back to C/2. The following year the team moved back to C/1 for the second time in a raw. The team had to make a decision: either to give up or to restart with new ambitions. It was decided to go ahead, by strengthening the team further thanks to additional economical support and a new journalistic magazine called “Basket News” by Gianni Angelucci. After four troubled years in the D division, the team moved up again to the C division in 1989/1990, but stumbled in the first two years.
In the 1992/1993 season, when Sicc Cucine with Alfiero Latini became sponsor, the team started to aim high. After a couple of bad seasons in the C division, the important Mr. Latini decided to try to move up again. For this reason the team signed a young and emergent coach, Alessio Baldinelli. His team would have had to achieve something important.
At the team presentation, Alfiero Latini promised there would have been the derby games vs Fabriano team within three years, but just a few people realized that the dream was going to become real. In fact, Aurora (sponsored by Sicc) reached the A2 League (second division of Italian professional basketball) in the 1996/1997 season by beating Gaverina Bergamo team of Coach Recalcati with just two games in the playoff finals: the first game was won on the road (71-77) and the second game was played at home in a Tabano Arena crowd by over 4,000 Jesi team supporters on the May 21, 1997.
In its A2 League experiences, Sicc has always reached the final playoffs and is considered one of the most important teams in this League. It’s in the 99/2000 and in the 2003/2004 seasons that the team achieved the most important results: in the first one the team took part in the Final Eight of the Italian Cup and in the second one moved up to the A1 League (first division of Italian professional basketball) after an exciting playoff series vs the Futur Virtus Bologna team.
The disappointment of missing the promotion at the end of the 1999/2000 championship re launched the club’s ambitions. The team was reinforced further to be more competitive the following season and the club strengthened its relationship with memorable sponsors, above all “Banca Popolare di Ancona” that had linked its name to the Sicc team since the first season in the A2 League.
After losing the playoff semifinals in the 2002/2003 vs the Teramo team (however, the games broadcast by Raisport Sat, a popular Sport television network provided great importance to basketball in Jesi) Sicc BPA started the following season with a new team, but always keeping a leading position in the standings.
At the end of a successful 2003/2004 season, won by the Reggio Emilia team, the Sicc team of the new coach Gresta reached the playoffs with excellent results and providing showtime to the increasing number of Jesi team supporters. After winning 3-2 vs Scafati and 3-0 vs Montecatini, the finals vs Carisbo Bologna (that took over the title of the glorious “V nere” Club which has always been very popular in Italy) could be considered a triumphal win.
After the first two home wins before a flood of Jesi supporters all dressed in the team colours yellow and green, Sicc Bpa won hands down in Bologna in the presence of 7,500 supporters, 1,000 of whom came from Jesi. This was the best answer to the clear, argumentative and often over-confident statements made by somebody in the Virtus Club before the series. The first season in the A1 League was the most unlucky and unsuccessful one in the history of the club. The team had to cope with many difficulties in this new League and the club ended up in firing Coach Luigi Gresta, who was replaced by Coach Slobodan Subotic. In any case the final result was more than bitter. In fact. Aurora thinks that the last seven games were lost due to some referees’ mistakes and doubtful decisions. The team didn’t manage to remain in the A1 League by the skin of its teeth in a particularly very hard season with many competitive teams.
The 2005/2006 will mark the most meaningful change in the history of Aurora: Sicc will give up its sponsorship after 16 years. The first news of the year was the signing up of one of the most valuable coaches in Italy: Mr Luca Banchi. The most important player signed that year was the African Romain Sato, small-forward from Xavier University and Mario Ginobili’s sparring partner during practice with the Saint Antonio Spurs team the previous year (the team won the NBA Championship that same year!). Aurora signed also Ray Weathers from the USA, but he was immediately stopped due to heart problems found out during the medical examinations. The club decided to trust and wait for him until he got the authorisation to play. In the meantime, for the beginning of the season another player was temporary signed by attendance-check. Mike Watson, this is his name, gave his quite good contribution that season, but the year later left the basketball to take the vows. Once Weathers got the ok, he started playing, but his season didn’t seem to be so good and he didn’t come back to Jesi after the Holiday Season, when he went back home for Christmas. He was replaced by Sheiku Kabba. One night, the same Kabba with other two players Brian Montonati and Tony Dorsey were seriously injured in a car accident. Since then, without the three Americans, the team lost the 4 remaining games of the regular season. In spite of all, Sicc Bpa achieved the playoffs ranking the last and lost 3-0 against Ferrara. The last loss was even at home when our team ended up playing 3 against 5 at the second overtime. During the break of that unlucky game Alfiero Latini was suddenly caught by a heart attack inside the “Palatriccoli” Arena. The quick intervention of the first aid avoided the worse, but that event made the Latini family decide to give up basketball sponsorship. The news was given by Luca and Francesca Latini, Alfiero’s children, during a press conference on the 16th May. This event marked the end of a very important era in the history of Aurora Basket.
In the 2006/2007 season the team was set up late, because the club focused on the research of new sponsors to take over the Latini’s family shares in order to avoid the end of the Aurora club, whose sport title was insistently requested by many other clubs.
Thanks to the efforts of many keen company owners and “little shareholders” led by the great commitment of Livio Grilli of “Apra Informatica” company, the Aurora shares were taken over by new shareholders. The presentation took place before the Mayor Belcecchi on the 28th June, 2006. A sort of new life was beginning for Aurora.
The club was financially very stable. Three days before the beginning of the season Aurora managed to find also the main sponsor to support the already existing Bpa: it’s the Fileni of Giovanni and Roberta Fileni, already some of those who had taken over some club’s shares. Mr Dario Bocchini was chosen as manager and Mr Subotic as coach. In spite of the unsuccessful past experience when the team moved back from the A1 League, the team kept coach Subotic in good consideration. Solid pillars of the team were the players Maggioli, Rossini and Casini whereas new players were coming from the USA. The two Americans were Stanton and “Mr. Easy” Brion Rush. The second one was well known as the 5th best yearly shooter in the Ncaa. Stanton didn’t start well and he was soon released and replaced by a great opponent in the history of Aurora: Ryan Hoover. The team stumbled and Coach Subotic resigned after the 20 points home loss vs the Fabriano team. When the new coach Capobianco took over, the team reacted immediately and won unexpectedly vs Rieti on the road (this was a tough team that moved straight up to the A1 League without playoffs). After a great second half of the regular season, Fileni Bpa even achieved the playoffs by winning the last game of the regular season, to the detriment of the Fabriano Basket team. The quarter-finals were vs the Caserta team that missed the direct promotion to the A1 League just in the last game of the regular season. But it was a great moment for Aurora and the team won the series with a 3-1. The last game was played and won in the neutral Arena of Osimo, as the female Jesi volleyball team was playing in the Palatriccoli Arena on that day! In spite of this, 2.700 supporters moved to Osimo for the game that took place in Sport Center devoted to one of the previous Aurora coaches: Alessio Baldinelli. It was a real party over there! Then the other surprise in the semifinals: Pavia. The games were all very tight. Pavia led 2-0. Then Jesi caught up to 2-2 by winning game 3 and 4 at home of just one point. 400 supporters drove to Pavia, even though the game was played many kilometers far away, late at night and on a working day. Other 700 supporters instead, met downtown in the “Monnighette square” to watch the game on a big screen set specifically on that occasion. They wanted to show their support to a very close and full of fighting spirit team and to its coach who was very soon appreciated, as never before in the history of the Jesi basketball. Game 5 was also very tight, but Pavia won at the end. Jesi couldn’t play the finals vs the Pesaro team, but closed with a great unexpected result in a transition season.
| 5 | Michele Maggioli | Center | |
| 8 | Michael Cuffee | Forward | |
| 9 | Alberto Rossini | Point guard | |
| 10 | Ruben Boykin | Forward | |
| 11 | Antonio Maestranzi | Point guard | |
| 14 | Damien Ryan | Shooting guard | |
| 16 | Matteo Raminelli | Forward | |
| 19 | Marco Sambugaro | Forward | |
| 20 | Davide Cantarello | Center | |
| Andrea Zanchi | Head Coach | ||
| Luca Ciaboco | Assistant Coach | ||
| Marco Pesaresi | Assistant Coach |