Game-2 ends 85-79: Diop is sent off 6′ from the end for a foul on Della Valle who finished with 26 points. Wednesday at the Race-3 Forum
The scores are evened at PalaLeonessa: Brescia takes game 2 by beating Olimpia 85-79 thanks to the Della Valle-Ivanovic duo, who combine for 49 points. Milan lacked the contribution of its offensive leaders (28 shots scored out of 70 attempts from the field) and in the final it paid for excessive nervousness, which allowed Germani to deliver the decisive jolt. Wednesday evening, at 8pm, the series moves to the Forum in Assago for race 3.
the match
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Brescia started well with Ivanovic and Della Valle, while the same couldn’t be said of Milan, who constructed good shots from the arc but didn’t find the back of the net until Ricci’s triple in the 8th minute. The Leonessa also asserts itself in the rebounding battle: 16 captured against 9 for Olimpia, which is already 8 points down at the end of the first quarter (23-15). In the second half, Germani slows down the pace and suffers from an overflowing Diop coming off the bench. A couple of clever plays by Della Valle – a 3+1 action and another foul drawn from the perimeter – in any case maintained the inertia on the side of the home team, who remained ahead 42-36 at halftime.
sparks
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In the second half, Poeta’s defense forces 3 turnovers within 3′, Shields enters the game and in the 26th minute his assist for Ellis makes it possible to overtake EA7 (49-50). The guests take the lead, but Adv is not there and with 2 consecutive triples brings the scoreboard back to parity (60-60) at the end of the third quarter. In the 34th minute the match gets nervous, sparks fly between Della Valle and Diop and even a headbutt from the Milanese big man arrives: although things clear up shortly after, the former is penalized with a technical penalty, while the latter is sent off. Shortly afterwards Brescia takes off with two blasts from the arc by Ivanovic and Della Valle, while there remains nervousness among Poeta’s men, so much so that Guduric is also whistled for an unsportsmanlike foul. Germani takes advantage of this, flies to +8 (80-72) 2′ from the end of the match with Ivanovic’s free throws and resists until the end: the series returns to a draw.
Brescia: Della Valle 26, Ivanovic 23, Bilan 12
Milan: Bolmaro 13, Shields 11, Nebo 9
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