Olimpia led for the length of the game, edging Zalgiris Kaunas 85-81 in its EuroLeague first home game of the season. With a big line-up, featuring Jeff Brooks at the 3-spot, Olimpia hit the ground running, building an impressive 23-7 first-period lead, because of a 4-for-4 from three start and a suffocating defense. “Later, we struggled a little bit defensively, foul troubles didn’t particularly help our rotation, at some time we were a little too small and at some time we were a little too big, but it was an important win,” Coach Ettore Messina said at the end. Olimpia shot the ball better, had more assists (Sergio Rodriguez had six and surpassed the 1.100 threshold for his career) than Zalgiris and led consistently, with margin often in double digits, in spite of a 29-point second quarter Kaunas outburst. “It was a hard game, both teams played hard, both teams had very good moments and made some mistakes, we didn’t have Mack and Nedovic, so we used the personell with no regard for positions, I just wanted to have some ball handlers out there. Jeff Brooks was crucial at the 3 spot, he can give us versatility and when Gudaitis will be back, the big men are not going to eat minutes one to each other,” Messina said. Olimpia had four players scoring in double figure. In the fourth quarter, when Thomas Walkup had a scoring run himself, bringing Zalgirs within three, Vlado Micov, back in the line-up after a week off because of back spasms, made a reverse lay-up and Michael Roll sustained the defensive effort with a mid-range jumper that extended the lead to seven. Zalgiris attempted another furious comeback, but Olimpia kept the lead, made the free throws at the end and won deservedly.