Zach LeDay (22 points, 4 for 6 from three-point range) picked the right time to elevate himself above the game and win it for Olimpia, 94-90 over Trento, in a tough night, with a short-handed roster, only one ball handler, plagued by foul trouble, and five perimeter players (Armoni Brooks had to stay on the court for 34 minutes and finished clearly fatigued). LeDay took a charging foul at the defensive end of the floor, a few possessions after protecting the rim with a thunderous block, and on the other end made a three converting a pass from Quinn Ellis (10 assists) that gave Olimpia the lead for good. After a while, Devin Booker made a mid-range jumper that sealed the win, finally.

Playing on short rest, less than 48 hours since the EuroLeague’s Vitoria game, with the same eight players forced to play the entire game, Olimpia had a convincing first half that proved to be an unfortunate one. Leading by as many as 12 points twice in the second quarter, a couple of unlucky plays including a basket-to-basket three pointer by DaVantè Jones meant the lead was just four points at the intermission. With fatigue setting in, Trento early in the second half showed that the game was becoming a battle. “We played with heart and sense of urgency, coming back after trailing by five emotionally was not easy,” Coach Peppe Poeta remarked. Particularly another unfortunate sequence took place late in the third. Olimpia trailed by two when Josh Nebo (15 points, seven rebounds) took off for an emphatic dunk. However, the ball rebounded hard on the rim and went away. Trento went off and made a three. Suddenly a tie game at the end of third became a five-point deficit for Milan.

The fourth quarter was a back-and-forth battle, until LeDay took the charge and made a three. Booker hit the mid-range jumper and Trento trailed by three with 14 seconds left. “We wanted to foul but not right away – Coach Poeta unveiled – I didn’t want to get into the free-throw lottery. So, I asked to foul after five-six seconds and only far from the three-point line. In that situation you can make a foul and the offensive player throws the ball up and earns three free throws. We had to be extremely careful and we were. They never had the ball far from the line, but we didn’t let them any good look at the basket.”