Playing on short rest, without Nikola Mirotic, with Shavon Shields in a regime of minutes restrictions, Olimpia used all its resources, physically and mentally, to find a way to defeat the league-leading Brescia on its home turf, 79-73. It was a beautiful display of heart and soul because Olimpia couldn’t be brilliant but was able to fight inside, to overcome foul trouble and to try to contain Miro Bilan’s size and skills with smaller defenders, including a superb performance produced by Pippo Ricci. When Brescia put its hands on the game, firmly, in the third quarter Ricci with two consecutive post-up plays allowed Olimpia to erase the eight-point deficit and going up atthe end of third. Again, Bilan with two straight three-point plays converted in the middle of the fourth gave Brescia a cushion of a six-point lead. Suddenly, Olimpia raised the intensity level of its defense, prevented Brescia from scoring for four consecutive possessions. Offensively, Bolmaro scored on a drive, LeDay on a drive, Shields from the line and Bolmaro again with another of his mid-range jumpers. Olimpia went up and essentially never relinquished the lead. When it counted the most, the defense step up big-time. It was a marvelous collective effort. Nico Mannion was the first to find his rhythm offensively with his quickness (15 points, five-for-six on twos; Stefano Tonut was a monster defensively; Leandro Bolmaro showed his two-way game (16 points); and Shavon Shields was like a surgeon stepping up when the team needed him the most (15 points, five-for-seven from two, two timely steals). Zach LeDay, clearly fatigued, was at his generous best, with 31 minutes on the floor, nine points and eight rebounds.