Milan rears its head again and beats Bologna, Messina: “Heart and grit”

Milan rears its head again and beats Bologna, Messina: "Heart and grit"

Olimpia Milano interrupted its string of consecutive defeats by returning to victory at the Assago Forum in the championship big match against Virtus Bologna. Ettore Messina’s team è imposed itself in a sprint 82-80 against Banchi’s Vu Nere, making the Forum explode with joy. Crazy game for the meneghini, who even touched a +12 lead but suffered a 15-0 partial before a heart-stopping last quarter that allowed Milano to come back to win and climb to eighth place with 12 points. Virtus è second two points behind leader Brescia and tied with Venice on 16 points. Top scorers of the match Belinelli with 16 points for Bologna and Melli with 15 for Armani.

Coach Ettore Messina analyzed the challenge as follows: "An important victory, given the moment and the difficulties we are going through. I want to thank the public. The team played with heart and grit. The game had started badly, then the full-court pressure and the help of Bortolani, Ricci and Flaccadori changed the game".

Olimpia threatened to ruin everything by suffering a very heavy partial: "It's back a bit’ the specter of defeat, forò we kept fighting and we had a bit of lucidityà more in the final. Those four minutes put us in enormous anxiety. Però we have to start with the assumption that we go on with these good teams and that should give us something. I remember the very bad game with Maccabi, we were still ahead halfway through the third quarter. We have to learn how to handle these moments".

As mentioned, Brescia è alone at the top of the standings thanks to a resounding 110-65 victory over Sassari with six players in double figures and 19 points by Amedeo Dellavalle. These are the other results of today: Napoli-Reggio Emilia 87-89, Cremona-Treviso 70-76, Pesaro-Trento 74-87, Brindisi-Varese 86-81.