DAVID CUCCHIARA | DAILY NEWS
PACKING A PUNCH: Northside center Edrice Adebayo finished the 2014-2015 season averaging 32.2 points and 21 rebounds per game. He currently sits at 1894 total points for his career and is on pace to break the 2000 mark two weeks into the 2015-2016 season.

TREVISO, Italy — A tourist visiting Treviso, located about 20 miles North of Venice, willingly submits to northern Italian culture, indulging in decadent deserts, appreciating early Gothic architecture and absorbing the striking views that only the Adriatic Coast can provide.

It’s a vacationers paradise, a melting pot of European people, food and ambiance. For an average high school student from rural Beaufort County, it’s an unforgettable trip of a lifetime. For 6-foot-9, 220-pound Northside center Edrice “Bam” Adebayo, in the famous words of fictitious Sicilian mobster Michael Corleone, it’s strictly business.

Many travel to Treviso to learn of the area’s rich history or study abroad. Adebayo will venture to the Italian coast for a different kind of educational experience, one centered around execution, finesse and reputation.

The Panthers’ go-to big man will compete in the Adidas Eurocamp 2015, a three-day basketball showcase that pits some of the top high school talent from the United States against young international stars.

Names like Adrea Bargnani, Danilo Gallinari, Marco Belinelli, Serge Ibaka and Marcin Gortat are some of the more than a 100 professional players who took part in the Eurocamp in the last 15 years. The event, an international melting pot of elite basketball talent, is held at La Ghirada Sports Center, a three-gym facility that will play host to not only basketball talent, but professional scouts as well.

“Like I always preach to Bam, we have to finish business,” said Eric Peartree, Adebayo’s trainer and advisor. “We call ourselves the country boys. Two-five-two, that’s our area code. Always people look at country boys like they’re last in everything. We’re striving to fight for this little town we come from and make the jump … We want to get better and we want to keep focusing on getting better.”

Adebayo competed in the Adidas Nations camp in Atlanta from May 1-3, which is how the opportunity to play overseas materialized. From the tournament, Adidas hand selected 10 student-athletes to travel to Treviso. While accustomed to facing the country’s top high school talent at various national showcases and AAU tournaments, Adebayo sees the Eurocamp, which will take place from June 6-8, as an opportunity to better his game against a more concentrated pool of competition.

“I think I’ll need to step it up a little bit more,” he said. “Because I know there’s going to be guys out there who know who I am and will be trying to go after me the same way I want to go after them. I just think I need to keep doing what I’m doing, working hard and keep showing who I am.”

With a 10-1 record, Team Loaded, Adebayo’s 17U AAU team consisting of the top players from North Carolina and Virginia, is currently ranked No. 1 in the country, according to indihoops.com. At the 2015 Southern Jam Fest, an AAU tournament held from May 15-17, Team Loaded’s Dennis Smith and Adebayo were named co-MVPs. The team recently returned from an exhibition in New York City, where it finished with a perfect 4-0 record.

Back in Pinetown, Adebayo’s junior season for the Panthers was bursting with improvement and shrouded in speculation. With his senior year now just four months away, the question of whether or not the No. 8-ranked player in the Class of 2016 will suit up for Northside next season remains a mystery, though the hometown fans continue to be hopeful.

“I think I’m pretty close to my hometown, but they understand my situation,” Adebayo said. “They don’t care if I stay. If I stay, I stay, but if I go, they won’t mind and will support me 100 percent.”

One thing is certain, every time Adebayo takes the court, his game improves, whether it’s adding a bank shot, a post move or a perimeter look. The level of competition will determine the future for Northside’s prodigal basketball son, Peartree said.

“We’re going up unchartered waters because everything is so political,” he said. “We have to make sure he’s in the right spot. If you don’t got it lined up like it’s supposed to be, you’ll be left out in the cold. We have to make sure everything lines up correct because you don’t want his skillset to regress, you want it to progress, so we definitely have to look into that. Last year, the competition in the 1-A (class) was pretty good. Are we going to have the same bump in competition this year? You have to really look into it. Because now he’s playing at an NBA-type level, you don’t want him to come down and play at a padded level.”

The Newark, N.J., born, Pinetown native will compete in Treviso next week and introduce his talents on an international stage. It will be true test for one of high school basketball’s most coveted talents.

Adebayo finished the 2014-2015 season averaging 32.2 points and 21 rebounds per game. He currently sits at 1894 total points for his career and is on pace to break the 2000 mark two weeks into the 2015-2016 season.