Olimpia used a powerful third quarter to take a commanding lead in Trieste on its way to a 85-67 win in Round 20 of the Italian league. Olimpia led wire to wire, by as many as 25 points, and regained control of the game anytime Trieste tried to attempt a comeback. The locals were within one at one juncture in the second quarter when Olimpia finished the half with another run and an eight-point lead. In the third. Trieste closed the gap to three points, when Vlado Micov made a three, Keifer Sykes made a three and Luis Scola a three-point play. Scola led all the scorers with 20 points, in another night Olimpia played without injured Jeff Brooks and Riccardo Moraschini and rested Nemanja Nedovic and Arturas Gudaitis. The defense was once more instrumental. “We played a serious game and I need to congratulate the players, because it wasn’t easy after so many games in a few days. It could have been a dangerous games if not played with a tough defense, sharing the ball. We had 19 assists, that’s important on top of our defensive efficiency,” Coach Messina said at the end. “We were coming off four losses, but we need to put everything in perspective – Messina continued – We lost in Istanbul against the EuroLeague dominant team, we lost in Tel Aviv in the closing minutes, we lost in Brescia in the last minutes while playing without Rodriguez and Scola, let alone the injured players, then with a great defensive effort we stayed close in Istanbul against Fenerbahce. I understand why everybody wants to ring the alarm after some losses, but this the EuroLeague world. Real Madrid lost some games in a row, and today Fenerbhace lost, Baskonia lost. We want to chase the Euroleague playoffs to the end, while using every ounce of energy to be competitive in our league, hopefully improving for the Italy Cup, that’s the goal at this time,” Messina concluded.