Olimpia came back strong late in the game and in the end prevailed over Trento, 91-85. It was a tough night because the defense was slow and poor of energy early in the game. Trento took advantage of it and made six threes in the first quarter alone, scoring 33 points and building a 13-point lead. “It is never easy to play a tough EuroLeague game on Friday night, come back and play another one on Sunday. Our first quarter was poor defensively and offensively. We settled on jump shots, we never had the patience to get the ball inside, so we exposed ourselves to their transition offense and we paid for it,” Coach Ettore Messin said. Olimpia started to come back in the second quarter. “Kyle Hines’ effort was monumental. Ha was all over the floor and the first to get back on defense,” Messina added. Hines finished with 12 points and nine rebounds. The third quarter was when Olimpia really got into the game. Shabazz Napier scored six points in a row attacking the paint, Devon Hall added eight and after four minutes Olimpia was within one. After Trento’s time-out, Napier stole a ball and Tonut converted the go-ahead lay-up. However, Trento has one more bullet to use. A couple of threes by Davide Alviti and Kamar Baldwin gave back the lead to the visiting team entering the fourth quarter. But by then the defense was at its usual self. “And we pounded the ball inside to Mirotic. He made a couple of field goals and one assist for Hines. When we got the ball down, we could attract fouls, go to the line, kick the ball out for good looks. It is good that in the end we were able to balance the inside and outside game and score 91 points again”, Messina said. Olimpia tied the game up in the fourth with a Nicolò Melli’s three followed by Nikola Mirotic long jumper. Then Shields converted a drive. In the end, Devon Hall made the free throws to close the game off. Melli finished with a game-high 16 points and six rebounds; Napier and Mirotic added 15; Devon Hall had 14 going 7-for-7 from the line; Kyle Hines was 5-for-6 from the field and grabbed four offensive rebounds. Denzel Valentine made his debut but was a little rusty. “We needed an easier game to get him minutes because throughout his career he has always been able to play three positions showing great personality. Obviously, we didn’t see nothing tonight and I decided to play Bortolani who gave us quality minutes by the way,” Messina said.