Olimpia swept the Istanbul trip with an impressive 72-69 win over Efes two days after beating Fenerbahce. Olimpia had another commanding first half, held Efes to 11 second quarter points, led by as many as 17 points, looked sensational and totally in control. But Efes returned from the locker room in aggressive mode, very aggressive and determined. They erased the deficit in a matter of five minutes and in the fourth quarter extended their lead to six points off a Chris Singleton three. Milan showed a lot of character, didn’t lose its composure, stayed focused, regrouped and returned to play as well as possible especially at the defensive end of the floor. In spite of missing some free throws, Olimpia tied the game up on a Rodriguez coast-to-coast after a huge, impressive, Kyle Hines block over Micic. Then Rodriguez assisted Punter on a three-pointer. Olimpia led again by four and then couldn’t finish the job at the offensive end of the floor, but managed to hold Efes to just two free throws. The last shot was taken from three by Vasilje Micic and was intended to be good for the win. Punter kept him in check, contested the shot, Delaney grabbed the rebound and closed the deal from the line. 72-69.
It’s Olimpia’s fifth road EuroLeague win and improved the record to 9-5. It was also the first time that Olimpia won both games in “double round” week. “I want to congratulate my players, give them a lot of credit – Coach Ettoe Messina said at the end – It was a game that we had to win twice and it’s never easy to do that. The first half was actually very good. We anticipated that Efes with its talent, pride and character was going to come out for the second half very aggressive. We weren’t prepared for it. But after four or five minutes, my players regrouped, they never lost their composure and started to play again. The last five minutes defensively were outstanding.”
Kevin Punter led the scorers with 18 points, went 4-for-4 from three. Shavon Shields added to his 11 points a really impressive defensive game. Sergio Rodriguez gave the team a big lift down the stretch, making a couple of shots to get out of his slump, but he also had seven assists for the night. Kyle Hines had another memorable effort at both ends of the floor, but again it was a great team effort.
