Olimpia lost at home, 86-81, after a very weird game that was dominated, controlled in the first half and then slipped away in the third quarter. When Olimpia realized the situation, the game was up for grabs and an inspired Pistoia team had more confidence to finish it. Charlie Moore, Pistoia’s point guard, had 28 points and six assists; Payton Willis, the shooting guard, had 31 points. They combined to score 59 points over 61 minutes on the court. Willias was particularly effective in the first half when single-handedly kept Pistoia in the game. Olimpia tried to break away early. When Willis took Pistoia back within one point, a 8-0 run followed. Olimpia built a 14-point lead at the half, off a thunderous dunk made by Melli, correcting a Shields’ miss. The game pretty much looked safe.

The third quarter was when everything changes. Olimpia mentally turned the switch off, defensively was terrible, Pistoia took advantage of it, scoring 28 points in the quarter. Olimpia insisted shooting threes, passing up shooting opportunities, never attacked the rim. As a result, it finished the night with just 10 free throws attempted. Pistoia was held to 15-for-41 on twos, but shot 21 free throws, made 13 threes, grabbed 13 offensive rebounds. Its 12 assists indicate that one on one, offensive rebounds, and isolation plays made the difference.

“The first half I think was good, then whatever happened, physically or mentally, we were out of the game, we took ill-conceived outside shots, no logic in it, they amde some tough shots, give them credit, but we were out of sync. As a fact, we don’t have consistency, we played a great game on Froday and we couldn’t play one tonight. This is something we need to address and work on. I called a timeout when they came within three, I understood what was happening, then again after six minutes and played the regulars more than I wanted. But we lost control,” Coach Ettore Messina said.

Olimpia went behind by nine early in the fourth. Finally, Shavon Shields lead the team’s answer. He made two straight huge threes and tied up the score at 74. At that point, Olimpia had the opportunity to take the lead but again was tentative offensively. Finally, Pistoia scored and scored and scored, finishing the game 86-81. Shields has 26 points. Maodo Lo added 12 and four assists; Tonut scored 10 points, 5-for-6 from the two; Ismael Kamagate had 12 points, going 6-for-7 on dunks. He had five dunks in the first quarter alone. At some point, Olimpia in the frst half was spectacular. It is unfortunate that the effort was not sustained in the second half.