Efes took the lead essentially for the first time. It was late in the third quarter. Will Clyburn used his size, one on one skills to score at will, getting to the line and creating any sorts of problems to the Olimpia’s defense. Olimpia led by as many as nine points but struggled ot finish the quarter well. Then, Shavon Shields happened. He made a three to immediately tie the game up. Olimpia raised its wall on the ensuing defensive possession, force a missed shot, grabbed the rebound and Stefano Tonut threw a perfectly timed touchdown pass that Shavon Shields completed at the rim. It was the start of something big. Olimpia exploded with a 29-point fourth quarter and in the end won convincingly 92-76 over Efes. “Everybody helped each other, everybody contributed, the team put a great effort in this game and the basketball quality especially in thr fourth period was sky-high,” Coach Ettore Messina said.
Olimpia took off in the fourth implementing a seldom-used line-up featuring Devon Hall as the point-man, Stefano Tonut and Shavon Shields were the wings plus two bigs. A Nikola Mirotic huge game was not required this time. Olimpia shared the ball and everybody was dangerous offensively. Maodo Lo was huge in the first half, Devon Hall had a tremendous game (15 points and five assists), obviously Shields who had a team-high 18 points while shooting from the field with terrific accuracy. he shot 7-for-10 from the field. Mirotic added 14 points, including a much needed jumper from the top of the key to extend the lead in the fourth quarter when Efes was still in the game. Finally, Nicolò Melli was at his best.
The Captain started the game with the required sense of urgency. He scored seven points in the first quarter, was a presence inside. He finished the game with a double double, 13 points and 10 rebounds. He got the deserved standing ovation at the end. “Obviously, when you have three players coming off the bench doing the things that Tonut, Hall and Poythress did tonight, that will help – Messina pointed out – Tonut lately has been great especially at home; Hall makes us feel better when he provides this type of games while we are waiting for Billy Baron’s return and Poythress can give us some presence inside. Tonight, he made a couple of passes that allowed Tonut to shoot from the corner wide open.”
Finally, the game was the 400th of Kyle Hines career. He is obviously the first to reach this milestone.
