Sergio Rodriguez did it again. During the Italian Cup semifinal, last season, he scored 22 points and led Olimpia to the win against Venezia. He did it again, scoring 22 points, shooting 9-for-13 from the field, and led Olimpia to a hard-fought 69-63 win over Brescia. By doing so, Olimpia broke a nine-game impressive winning streak by Brescia. Olimpia was the last team to beat them before the streak and it did again. The best Italian league offense during the last wo months was held to 63 points. Olimpia was ice-cold from three, but Devon Hall had 12-point and 7-rebound night, Kyle Hines bounced back from early foul trouble to get a game-high 13 rebounds to go along his nine points. In the fourth quarter, his outstanding work under the offensive boards generated enough extra possessions for Milano. Gigi Datome was probably the sharpest at shooting the ball, but he earned a lot of praise for his two big offensive rebounds that he converted in four precious points in the end. “We got nervous when we couldn’t make any shot in the second quarter, normally we keep our poise, tonight we didn’t – Coach Ettore Messina said -, but given the circumstances, to be able to win, and we knew it wasn’t going to be easy against this red-hot Brescia team, was good.”
Olimpia led 21-12 in the first quarter, the second was the worst. Olimpia was called for two flagrant fouls, the first was the second personal foul for Kyle Hines, one technical foul and failed to earn any trip to the line in the entire first half. Brescia scored 25 points in the period and led by as many as four points. Sergio Rodriguez closed the first half on a high not and kept Olimpia just one point down. Again, the third quarter was a battle, Rodriguez scored 17 points in it, Olimpia took a convincing seven-point lead with a Datome dagger, but Brescia honestly never gave up. Amedeo Della Valle had 19 points and attempted a late comeback that Hall, Hines, and Datome pushed back.
“When it counted the most, we put the ball in the best hands, to the players that gave us more. Rodriguez took over at some points, Hines did a tremendous job with rebounds, defense, his presence, he kept the team focused, Datome also did a great job. Obviously, we need to do better tomorrow,” Coach Messina added. The Italian Cup final will be played tomorrow in Pesaro against Derthona, a team coming off two big wins over Trieste and Bologna (94-82).
