Olimpia dominated the semifinal game in Cagliari 111-86 against Varese in its first official outing of the preseason. Mario Fioretti coached the team because Ettore Messina was involved in Manu Ginobili’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony. The team did a great job of running, creating transition opportunity and scoring. It finished over 65 percent from the field, had an impressive 9-for-11 from two in the first period and surpassed the 100- point mark with four minutes left in the game. Kevin Pangos led the scorers with 22 points, he made all four of his three-point attempts, while Brandon Davies showed on top of his known shooting skills, his ability as a passer from the high post. He finished the game with six assists, while Naz Mitrou-Long had a 13-point second half on his way to 19 total points and added seven rebounds to ignite the festbreak. It was a fun-to-watch game, even if in spurts Olimpia’s defense gave up something to Jaron Johnson in the first half and Tomas Woldetensae in the second. Deshaun Thomas used his inside-outside game to create mismatch and was used at the 4 exclusively. The negative note was Shvon Shields’ left foot injury during the second quarter. He left the court and never returned.

THE BOXSCORE

Olimpia-Varese 111-86 (27-18; 54-38; 82-64)

Olimpia: Davies 16 (4/4, 2/2, 6 r, 6 a), Thomas 12 (3/5, 2/3), Mitrou-Long 19 (8/10, 1/6, 7 r), Pangos 22 (5/7, 4/4, 3 a), Baron 9 (3/3, 1/5), Hall 3 (0/2, 1/3, 5 a), Shields 9 (3/5, 1/1), Kostrewski 2 (1/1), Jankovic 5 (1/3, 1/1), Alviti 6 (0/1, 2/3), Hines 6 (3/4, 4 r), Kemp 2(1/1).

Varese: Ross 9, Woldetensae 17, De Nicolao 6, Zhao, Librizzi 2, Virginio 3, ferrero, Brown 6, Elisee 2, Caruso 14, Johnson 20, Kouassi 7.