Olimpia kept its perfect Italian league start going, prevailing 84-74 over Reggio Emilia. Playing on short rest and no practice time since its last EuroLeague road game in Istanbul, Olimpia looked a little bit tired early, going behind 16-4 and forcing Coach Ettore Messina to sub starters early and call his first time-out after five minutes. Gradually, Olimpia rose and Reggio Emilia stayed in the game taking advantage of a solid shooting night from the perimeter. Gigi Datome was the first to find his rhythm scoring 14 points in an impressive second quarter to turn the deficit into a two-point lead. In the third quarter, Chacho Rodriguez took the torch from him, supported by the 4-for-4 from three-point range made by Troy Daniels. Olimpia took a nine-point lead in the third, Reggio responded with a 8-0 run, but again Olimpia found what needed to close the game out. “I anticipated a tough night, because energy was limited and Reggio Emilia is a team very well organized and aggressive. Winning was not easy. I need to congratulate Gigi Datome, because he struggled early in the game, maybe he was a little spent after the big emotional trip to Istanbul, then he responded, made some big baskets and helped us a lot,” Coach Messina said. Datome scored 20 points, Sergio Rodriguez added 22 in a rare night when he didn’t have many assists, but was lethal shooting the ball.