SASSARI (Basketball Champions League) – Even the 12 lead changes and the eight ties that occurred during Dinamo Sassari's 74-70 win over Stelmet Zielona Gora in their Group E opener do not accurately portray how this clash kept the lucky spectators in Sardinia on the edge of their seats during Tuesday night.

"I am really satisfied, more than usual after a win, because during these 40 minutes we dealt with every possible difficulty a great team can pose to you during the course of a game," Dinamo coach Federico Pasquini explained afterwards.

"Having the courage to fight for every ball and to play so tough in the crucial moments, to overcome fatigue, makes me very happy because this is the sort of game that has so much intensity you can normally play months after the previous one, and we played it after very little time."

With the scores tied at 66-all and 2:58 remaining, Darius Johnson-Odom hit a jumper and then came up with a steal to spark a decisive 6-0 run that lifted the hosts to a 72-66 lead with nine seconds left to play. He finished with a team-high 17 points and four assists to help Dinamo start their Basketball Champions League campaign in winning fashion and confirm the reputation of Palaserradimigni arena as a fortress.

"We started very strong on a 16-3 run but we were out-scored 16-36 after that," Pasquini said. "Despite this setback, we re-started with an admirable toughness and against a team that was scoring from anywhere on the floor during stretches, behind an almost unstoppable James Florence."

Florence finished with 22 points in a losing effort, but the night belonged to Dinamo who in addition to Johnson-Odom also got big performances from Trevor Lacey, who had 12 points, four rebounds and four assists for a team-high efficiency of 16, as well as point guard Rok Stipcevic, who added 15 points and four assists.