There was a moment in the third quarter when Bologna built a seven-point lead and Olimpia, short-handed, worried about the foul situation with the guards, looked on the verge of a collapse. Resilience is the word that Coach Peppe Poeta used to describe his team answer. Armoni Brooks made a steal in the backcourt, made two free throws, added a three, than Zach LeDay made a three and after Coach Ivanovic time-out, Olimpia kept pushing. The run was 18-2 and pretty much decided the game. Olimpia was never really threatened after that and won 74-63. At one point in the fourth quarter, up by 12, Bologna scored a three with Karim Jallow from the corner and Luca Vildoza added a three-point play that cut the margin to six. But it was just a moment. Olimpia finished the game stronger and won.

Coming off two tough EuroLeague battles and with two more coming up both teams looked fatigued at times, especially when it was time to make shots. Armoni Brooks was the exception (he finished with a game-high 23 points), Shavon Shields had one of his customary two-way games, Zach LeDay had one of the best defensive game of the season in the way he protected the rim, then moved on to make some crucial shots, Marko Guduric was orchestrating the offense as a secondary ball-handler and finally Josh Nebo was all over the air at both ends of the floor (14 points and nine rebounds). However, defense won the game for Olimpia. Shields and Guduric mounted a tough guard on Carsen Edwards, Bologna’s leding scorer, holding him to a 4-for-20 shooting night, staying scoreless in the second half. Derrick Alston jr, one of the best shooting 4 of the league, was scoreless too. “We put our bodies on Edwards, we made some adjustments on their middle pick and roll but the key was the energy, the desire the guys showed on the court,” Poeta said.