Alex Poythress rebounded from a tough night marred by foul trouble to secure the win 79-75 for Olimpia in Tortona. Poythress had 10 points in the fourth quarter including going 6-for-6 from the line, made a huge block to protect the rim and erected a wall Kyle Hines-style on the ensuing possession when Olimpia had a two-point lead. Late in the game, Olimpia built a 4-point lead that Tortona erased getting ahead by five. Olimpia raised the level of its defense and exploited the mismatches inside with Johannes Voigtmann first and Poythress later. When he single-handedly tied the score with two free throws and block Retin Obasohan’s driving lay-up, Shavon Shields made two free throws. The Stefano Tonut completed a solid game by making a pair of free throws himself. “I don’t like to talk about individual players, but Nik Melli sustained the team in the first half and in the second Stefano Tonut placated the storm with his energy and his field goals. Poythress obviously was crucial at the end with his points and also his defense. It wasn’t easy to win here after the kind of week we had, plying with no Mirotic, no Lo, no Baron. It was a demanding week that we handled well,” Coach Ettore Messina said.

Olimpia looked dominant in spurts during the first half, building a 13-point lead and finally going to the pause enjoying a 11-point commanding lead. The third quarter was a poor one, however. “We need to talk about it of course – Messina pointed out – They responded and played well, they are organized and solid. That was when Tonut was terrific for us.” Tortona turned the game around, Olimpia was able to stay close and was down by one at the end of the third. “After this week I urged my players to make sure we win the rebounding battle to make up for any shooting percentages we might have sustain. And I urged them to score inside. They responded. That was beautiful,” Messina added.

While Poythress was decisive at the end, Nik Melli had a double double adding 10 rebounds to his 14-point outing. Kevin Pangos made three threes for the night and had eight assists. Flaccadori was helpful in the first half and Ismael Kamagate had a nice showing scoring six point over 12 minutes on the court. “Now we will have Mirotic and Lo back, we will prepare a very important road game in Berlin and move forward,” Messina finished.