It didn’t look good, early. Roma scored 29 points in the first quarter, went up by 16 in the second quarter and looked completely in control. “Fortunately, we found the energy to tie the partial score in the second period so we didn’t go down by 20, somehow we stayed in the game,” Coach Ettore Messina said. In the second half, Olimpia was different, had a 32-point third quarter, came back and finally won 79-73, against a proud Roma team, one that refused to go down quietly. Three times, Olimpia went up by four or five points in the fourth and every single time Roma came back. The fourth attempt was decisive. Down by one, Amedeo Della Valle made a corner three. Olimpia closed the game right there. “During halftime, I tried to come up with a solution to change the game. Cinciarini gave me one,” Messina said. Olimpia played most of the second half with three guards, sometime three point guards, Cinciarini spent himself on Jerome Dyson, “gave us physicality, energy and defense, he was a true leader and captain,” Messina said. Vlado Micov had an outstanding second half, playing at the 4 most of the minutes, while Kaleb Tarczewski was in his dominating mode. He scored 15 points, went five for five from the field, grabbed eight boards, his personal rating was an amazing 29 and he missed four foul shots, the only negative note on an otherwise terrific game. Five players scored in double figure, including Shelvin Mack, back in action after three weeks. Nemanja Nedovic played too, and had important minutes to regain his rhythm. “We cannot rely always on the same players, we need everybody. Let’s see Sergio Rodriguez: he was great last Friday against Fenerbahce, we cannot ask him or a few others to win every game. We need everybody,” Coach Messina reflected.