With energy, defense, the right plays, and desire, Olimpia defeated Brindisi 72-67 coming back in the fourth quarter, clinching a spot in the Italian Supercup championship game against Virtus Bologna, on Tuesday night. After a dominating first half, when it led by as many as 16 points, Olimpia struggled in the third, affected by ineffective three-point shooting. Brindisi took the lead, extended it by as many as seven points while Milano looked disconnected for a while. When it touched the bottom, Olimpia responded with a 9-0 run. The last seven minutes were a battle, but the defense once more won the game. Brindisi was held to 11 fourth-quarter points, while Shavon Shields and Devon Hall made the right plays, Nicolò Melli grabbed a huge rebound and also Malcolm Delaney made a big three in an otherwise terrible shooting night for the team. Olimpia shot 5-for-32 from three, and that affected a 56.8 percent night from two and a 15-for-16 free throw shooting display. “We played very well in the first half – Coach Messina said – then we got nervous in the third quarter, we lost the flow of our game because we couldn’t hit a shot, ball circulation was insufficient. Then, we played a great fourth period, doing the little things that won the game for us, we made our free throws, we made a couple of threes, we got the rebounds.” Olimpia won the rebounding battle 45-36 and five players scored in double figure.

BOXSCORE

Happycasa Brindisi-Olimpia Milano 67-72 (15-21; 27-41; 56-51)

Brindisi: J. Perkins 16, Adrian 6, Redivo 11, Visconti 7, Zanelli 3, Carter, Chappell, Udom 3, N. Perkins 16, Gaspardo 5.

Olimpia: Hall 9 (0/2, 1/6, 6/6, 5 r), Shields 11 (3/8, 1/5, 2/2, 4 r, 3 a), Hines 11 (5/5, 1/2 ft, 8 r), Delaney 10 (1/2, 2/6, 2/2, 4 r), Melli 11 (4/4, 1/3, 7 r), Mitoglou 13 (5/9, 0/1, 3/3, 7 r), Datome 3 (1/3, 0/3, 1/1), Ricci (0/1, 0/1), Biligha, Alviti 2 (1/2, 0/3), Rodriguez 2 (1/1, 0/4, 3 a).

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