Olimpia defeated Paris Basketball 86-77 in a game that was never as close as the final score might indicate. Olimpia essentially led from wire to wire, by as many as 22 points and felt never threatened by the opponent. “It was a team win, we played an excellent first half and we got fatigues a little bit late in the game. When Paris made its move to get closer we were disciplined enough to put the ball in the better hands. And our big players delivered,” Coach Ettore Messina said.

Olimpia held the highest-paced team in the EuroLeague to 27 first half points, leading by twenty. Nico Mannion had a sharp first half, alternating drives and outsed shots and even a couple of good defensive plays. He had 10 points to go along Nate Sestina’s eight points. “He gave some depth offensively, attacking the paint with sharp and quick cuts,” Messina remarked. In the second half, when Paris got within eight in the fourth quarter, Shavon Shields made the most important field goal of the night, hitting a three that started a 5-0 run that put Paris at distance. Armoni Brooks, plagued by early foul trouble, was scoreless in the first half but came up big in the second with 12 points, three threes and three free throws.

Devin Booker scored 13 points too. Shavon Shields added seven rebounds to his 10 points and 4 assists. Quinn Ellis had eight assists and Pippo Ricci, while struggling to hit his three-point shot, was great getting 10 rebounds. Olimpia finished with 23 assists and basically tied tha rebounding battle against a great offensive rebounding team. “Ricci is coming up big; Booker is the reason why we didn’t fell off after losing for a period both Josh Nebo and Zach LeDay; Armoni Brooks is a great reboudning guard and is making strides defensively and as a one on one player,” Messina commented at the end.