Olimpia took an early lead and never looked back in another convincing win, in Trieste, 87-65. Trieste attempted a comeback late in the first half, but was never threatening. The job was onde egregiously and Coach Messina was satisfied at the end: “We understand that they missed some crucial players, but we approached the game correctly and never relented. We didn’t have any problems at diving to the floor, putting our knees at risk. We built our game with defense and rebounds. We overcame a bad juncture late in the first half, the bench guys gave us a lot of energy and allowed the others to rest a little bit after a Friday night EuroLeague game. So, we are happy.”

The defense allowed Olimpia to stay in control when the shooting percentages were going down. Coach Messina used 12 players, Zach LeDay played a very intense game, his second double double game in a row, with 18 points and 14 rebounds. He was dominant especially in the second half, when he also made two threes.His big play was at the end of the third, when Trieste had one offensive possession to use. He stole the ball, dribbled the length of the court and beat the buzzer.

Gigi Datome was crucial early in the game, he didn’t miss shots, he didn’t make mistakes and so Olimpia got away early, sustaining a devastating start produced by Shavon Shields, who scored 13 points to go along five rebounds, four assists and no turnovers. Datome also had 13 points.

Once again, Olimpia was capable to limit the number of turnovers, six for the game, won the rebounding battle and finally made 13 three-pointers, while Trieste made eight of them, but three were made by Milton Doyle very late in the game.