Game 1 is in the books. Olimpia won in Brescia, dominating the second half, 88-72. After a stuttering start, Olimpia trailed by nine in the middle of the first quarter and by eight at the end, then gradually found rhythm, reduced the turnovers that plagued the team early, the defense became overwhelming. In the second quarter Olimpia slowly but surely took momentum after two threes made by Guduric and Ricci. Brescia tried to take Armoni Brooks’ three-point shot away from him but he was great at reading the defense and attack the closeout, so he made four baskets from close or mid range. His first three at the buzzer of the first half gave Olimpia a three-point lead going to the intermission. The third period was decisive. Olimpia started with a 7-0 run that included threes by Zach LeDay and Pippo Ricci again (he finished with 11 points, 3-of-4 from three-point range) and two forced turnovers determined by Josh Nebo’s defense on Miro Bilan post-up plays. From that point on, Olimpia looked and was in total control. The margin kept increasing. It was 13 points at the end of the third but exploded to 26 in the middle of the fourth quarter. Amedeo Della Valle, who finished with 24 points and has scored 84 to Olimpia over the last three games, reduce single-handedly the margin. But Brescia was never threatening. Olimpia now leads the best-of-five series 1-0 with Game 2 scheduled to be played in Brescia again on Sunday.

“We played a solid game and our defense was exceptional today – Coach Peppe Poeta said at the end – We looked a little bit rusty in the beginning, but Brescia was very good initially. We had some turnovers to deal with and we allowe too many offensive rebounds. But in the second half our defense was fantastic, holding them to eight assists for the game is remarkable. The key was staying intense for the entire 40 minutes. Unfortunately it is just one game and another one is coming up. We know Brescia: they have a strong identity and personality, they will bounce back very strong. We got to be ready for it.” Particularly, Olimpia decided to guard Della Valle with Quinn Ellis in the beginning and sent Shavon Shields over Nikola Ivanovic. “Defending their ball handlers is crucial, because they are their facilitators and scorers. Della Valle was great again but he had two assists, he couldn’t activate their short roll game,” Poeta pointed out at the end. Leandro Bolmaro was sensational, scoring 20 points in 23 minutes, playing hard and efficiently at both ends of the floor. He went 8-for-13 from the field and his defense was disruptive. Armoni Brooks was lethal too: he scored 16 points, went 4-for-5 from two-point range an added two threes, one to closed the first half up by three and the second in the third period extendend Olimpia’s lead to 12 points.

Olimpia was also able to keep Miro Bilan under control using a two-center combo, with Josh Nebo scoring 11 points on 3-for-4 shooting and five free throws. He mounted a terrific defense on the Croatian star especially inthe second half. He twice forced turnovers when the ball was intended to reach Bilan and once he stole the ball from him and went off for a thunderous dunk. Ousmane Diop did his job once again despite playing only nine minutes because of foul troubles.