It was a fistfight and Olimpia got out of  it with a huge 87-83 win over Maccabi Tel Aviv, improving its record to a sixth-best 12-11. It was a close game thoughout the entire 40 minutes, with narrow margin and a lot of lead changes. No teams led for more than five points untile the homestrtech when Olimpia took control, adding some quality execution to its sometimes dominant defensive effort. Mike James played an incredibly solid game at both ends of the floor. He was the one making the huge plays to get the lead for good. Jeff Brooks made a crucial three from the corner too, but it was a real team effort, with Curtis Jerrells scoring 16 points off the bench, Alen Omic grabbing eight rebounds and making two critical shots in the fourth, a putback dunk and a short hook. Then Kaleb Tarczewski: returning after almost two months, he was all over the floor, scoring eight points and blocking four shots, a career-best. Olimpia’s intensity was amazing. “We won the game because down the stretch we made some extra-effort plays, rebounds and steals, that gave us the lead for good. Our crowd was really into it and pushed us over the hump”, Coach Pianigiani said. Olimpia led by as many as nine points late in the fourt and resisted the last assault when Scottie Wilbekin completed an outstanding game with a couple of threes to bring Maccabi withing three again. James Nunnally and Jeff Brooks made critical free throws at the end. “We played a great game and we have room for improvement – Pianigiani said – the familiarity level with Nunnally will improve, and Nemanja Nedovic will improve although his game went beyond my expectations tonight”.