Olimpia started its semifinal series on a high note, winning 88-71 against Sassari. After a high scoring unexpected first quarter (32-26), Olimpia established its tempo, took a 12-point lead in the second quarter, closed the half up by eight and overcame a tough start of the second half. Sassari, taking advantage of two consecutive Milano’s turnovers, had a 7-0 run and shrank the margin to one single point. The most difficult stretch of the game led to the best Olimpia had to offer. It started with a Gigi Datome’s corner three, a Kyle Hines dunk and then five consecutive points scored by Ben Bentil. Olimpia never looked back, led by as many as 23 points and used the entire roster at the end. “It was a good game, we moved the ball, we played defense, we had 23 assists, we shot well. It is still one game, this is a series that is not going to be easy,” Coach Ettore Messina said.

Shavon Shields scored 14 of his team-high 16 points in the first half, Datome had eight of his 13 points in the first quarter alone, but everybody helped. Sergio Rodriguez had eight assists, Ben Bentil was instrumental at both ends of the floor, Jerian Grant made three threes on top of his outstanding defense, and Devon Hall in the second half overcame his foul trouble that eliminated him from the first half. Finally, Kyle Hines had another monster all-around game: eight points (4-for-6), seven rebounds, five blocks and four assists. His defense over Miro Bilan was amazing. “We also got some quality minutes off Nicolò Melli. He could have played up to 15 minutes, he was rusty after his more than one month of recovery, but his eight minutes were encouraging,” Messina added, noting his six boards in a very limited time.

Game 2 is scheduled to be played in Milan in Monday night. Olimpia leads the best-of-five series 1-0.