Virtus Bologna moved the ball better, had more assists, controlled the boards and basically had more energy. Physically, mentally, from a basketball standopoint and won deseverdly 83-70. Olimpia stayed close in the first quarter, took the lead in the second after three minutes of excellent basketball that unfortunately didn’t last. Bologna finished the half better, took a six-point lead into the locker room and the second half didn’t have much to say. “They were more aggressive than us, mentally, physically. Our offense was poor and allowed them to run and score 19 fastbreak points. That was the key. They are legitimately in first place, they deserve to be considered the team to beat, both in the Final Eight and for the Italian championship. We hope to reverse the trend during the next weeks,” Coach Ettore Messina said. Sergio Rodriguez scored 19 points and had five assists, Vlado Micov added 16 points, but was 1-for-seven from two. “We built good shots and we missed them, we missed a lot of lay-ups too,” Messina added. Olimpia allowed 15 offensive rebounds, 23 assists and was 13-for-33 from two.