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ULM SHOOTS DOWN FIRED UP 99ERS 85-78! Powered by hot shooting, strong defense and clutch plays, ratiopharm Ulm found redemption in their hard-earned 85-78 road win over the Chemnitz 99ers Friday night before over 2000 enthusiastic Niner fans in beautiful Richard Hartmann Halle. Bouncing back from October's 96-93 German Cup loss in Chemnitz, Ulm rode the hot shooting of Kenny Price and Maksym Shtein through a key third quarter run before Emeka Erege's fourth quarter scoring binge sealed the important two points. The first EVER Live televised 2.Bundesliga Basketball game, people in Chemnitz or tuning in on regional TV were not disappointed as Ulm's hot shooting shot down their fired up home team in a great basketball game for fans. Chemnitz started fast behind home court momentum and confidence gained from their early season Cup win. Kendric Brooks and Jaivon Harris hit early baskets that gave the Niners an early 5-2 lead delighting the home crowd and viewing audience. Ulm roared back behind excellent transition play and good perimeter shooting pushing the score to 11-7. Attacking the Chemnitz halfcourt trap, Ulm moved the ball to the middle of the floor and found Big Mike Niebling on the right block. Pivoting against a double team, Nielbling found forward Antoine Sinclair all alone in the right corner. Sinclair caught the pass with his heels just inside the three point line and, surveying the floor for a brief second, continued to sink a J increasing Ulm's tally to 13. Play went on. Chemnitz turned offensive rebounds into second chance points and foul shots to pull even at 11. Noticing the discrepancy on the scoreboard, the Ulm bench and management immediately filed a protest after the Chemntiz scorers table took the two points from Sinclairs basket off the board. Ulm's internet team, in the corner of the gym reporting the LIVE score for Ulm's website, alertly recognized the missing basket was Sinclair's baseline jumpshot and helped clear up the situation.However, the scoreboard remained the same --- Ulm 11 Chemnitz 11. Both teams traded baskets as action picked up. At the end of one quarter, Ulm and Chemnitz remained tied at 16. In quarter 2, momentum swung. 99er forward Kendric Brooks hit two tough post up fadeaway's over tough Ulm D. Ulm continued to allow too many offensive rebounds as the Niners outworked them on the boards. Chemnitz was a step quicker to loose balls and long rebounds during their strong second quarter stretch. Ulm struggled attacking Chemnitz' halfcourt trap which led to poor shot selection. Lack of offensive production fueled a Chemnitz run that stretched the score to 30-19 before an Ulm timeout.
An intense 2nd quarter timeout with Chemnitz on a run. Ulm seemed a step slow on both ends of the floor, as evidenced by the rebounding problems on defense and poor spacing and lack of movement against the 99er zone. During the timeout, the team discussed their adjustments and focused on working their way back. Determined to make a difference, Ulm center Maksym Shtein stepped up. Scoring and drawing fouls inside, Shtein also handled the 99er post-double well with quality post reaction passing and became a target agains the middle of the zone with strong high post flashes. On top of that, Max stepped out to hit a momentum building three point shot in a ratiopharm run that got them back into the game. While Shtein excelled on the inside, Kenny Price caught fire from the perimeter, a sign of things to come. Finally, down three 39-36 after Chemnitz free throws, with 6 seconds on the clock, Ulm's run reached its goal as Michael Bree took Florian Mobius' endline inbound pass, weaved his way through reaching 99er defenders and cut through the lane to the basket. Spotting Kenny Price in the right corner out of the corner of his eye, the Irish playmaker zipped a pass to Price who promptly buried a buzzer beating three pulling Ulm even 39-39. After 20 minutes of play, Ulm and Chemnitz were back where they began --- or so it seemed. At the half, Chemntiz had outrebounded Ulm 29-12 and matched Ulm's total rebounds (12) with their offensive board work (12). Offensively Ulm stayed in the game with Price and Shtein who combined for 30 of Ulm's 39 first half points. Aside from more energy and better team defensive rebounding, ratiopharm Ulm's main focus revolved around their halfcourt trap attack and offensive work against the 99er zone. With slight spacing, flashing and movement adjustments clearly covered, Ulm readied themselves for a strong second half. And their halftime talk was the most productive ever --- when Mike T and his men emerged from their dressing room, the scoreboard showed a two point Ulm advantage 41-39. At the half, after several discussions with game officials, the technical commissioner awarded Ulm their missing two points for Sinclair's first quarter basket. Ulm took the floor with even more positive vibes. And the team went to work.
Ulm's Emeka Erege was excellent in crunch time! Ball movement and sharp action capped with a clutch shot clock beating three from Florian Mobius. On the next possession, it was point guard Michael Bree's turn. And then Kenny Price turned it on. The Ulm shooting guard caught fire hitting two more three pointers and tallying 8 points in a commanding third quarter run. Defensive stops and hot shooting exploded Ulm ahead. Following a chase after a long rebound, Bree bolted up floor running another fast break. A Chemnitz player reached out to slow him down from behind and officials whistled an intentional foul. Up 62-48, with two shots plus the ball, Ulm held complete control of the game. But the 99ers have tremendous fight in them and their battle cry came from lingering Cup win confidence and knowledge Jena upset Ulm after trailing the majority of the game. When Bree bounced both free throws and Mike T's team came up with an empty possession, the Niners saw their chance. And they capitalized. An 11-0 run helped Chemnitz slice into the lead. Guard Martin Schuster hit a key basket from the corner and in the paint in the push. At 64-63, Ulm burned a timeout. Righting the ship, Ulm rebuilt their advantage to 7 at 70-63 heading into the final quarter. With visions of the Cup confrontation fresh in minds, spelling hope for Niners and memories of hard lessons learned for Ulmers, the fourth quarter began with energy. Chemnitz head coach Torsten Loibl chose to play a small lineup with one post and four perimeter shooters. Ulm countered with a small lineup of their own featuring Bree, Heizer, Price, Erege and Shtein. A Martin Schuster three inspired the home crowd. Erege answered with a good finish in the paint. Serge Charikov responded with another 99er three. Erege fired right back with his second good post up finish. Before fans could blink, Chemnitz had cut the score again, this time to two at 74-72.
Maksym Shtein found redemption with a big performance inside and out! On the next possession, Maksym Shtein stepped up. At the very basket the Ukranian-German center missed two last second free throws in the Cup loss, Max popped out to the top of the key on Ulm's designed post pop for a J play usually run for Florian Mobius. As Max caught the pass and lined up his three ball, the Ulm bench tensed.....and when he swished his shot through, that very same bench rejoiced with encouragement, fist pumps and high fives. Up 77-72, Ulm pulled ahead. Chemnitz got big baskets, including an important score from Brooks drawing within one at 77-76--- timeout Ulm. Up one with just over one minute remaining, Mike T drew up the play for Emeka Erege, who had it going with strong post scores in the second half. Like clockwork, Bree dribbled to the wing, teammates set the screen and Erege cut open to the ballside block. Drawing a foul, Erege would go to the line for critical free throws. After shooting 8 for 17 from the foul line in the first half, Ulm players would find their focus. Erege hit the bottom of the net twice resetting the score at Ulm 79 Chemnitz 76. Down three with under one minute, Chemnitz had the weapons on the floor to pull even. Ulm's defense toughened. The shot clock ticked down. The ball deflected out of bounds. Timeout. Chemnitz ball, sideline inbound play with 4 seconds on the shot clock, fading time on the game clock. Ulm now needed to register a strong defensive stop to seal the game. Directing defensive adjustments in the timeout, Ulm sagged off the inbounder taking away Lars Buss' block to block post cut with a double team preventing direct entry. After screening, Chemnitz guard Jaivon Harris cut directly up the midline to the top of the key using screens on his way. Recognizing "America's play", the Ulm defenders reacted quickly forcing Harris to catch the ball deeper than NBA three point range. Fighting the ticking clocks, Harris got his clean look.....it was short. A strong Maksym Shtein rebound secured the defensive stop. Pushing the ball, Ulm executed on the fly and found Erege isolated in the post against Brooks. Wheeling against the talented Chemnitz wing, one on one on the right block with his back to the basket, Emeka turned to his left shoulder looking to score. Suddenly, Brooks, a veteran wanting to force Erege to earn his two points at the line, grabbed Emeka's left arm and shoulder pulling the Ulm forward off balance to the middle of the floor. Spinning outside from his pivot, yet pulled inside from his opponent, Emeka scooped a shot off the glass as he stumbled across the lane. Just as officials whistled foul, the ball rolled along the rim and fell through. Up 81-96, Erege's ridiculous (yet brilliantly athletic) basket gave Ulm stability. Attacking swiftly up the floor against the game clock, Lars Buss scored a layup before Chemnitz fouled. 81-78, Ulm's Davidson connection iced the game sinking four three throws in the final seconds helping Ulm to their 85-78 victory.
Erege at the line hitting important second half free throws A tremendous team effort earning two tough points in a hard place to play, ratiopharm Ulm improved to 9-2 in 2.Bundesliga South play while Chemnitz fell to 7-4. Just as important, Mike T's team earned redemption in Chemnitz after their German Cup loss exactly two months ago in October. No one felt more relieved than Ulm center Maksym Shtein who played a great game finishing with 21 points 7 rebounds, 4 steals and 3 for 4 three point shooting. Taylorhoops.com Player of the Game Kenny Price top scored for the fourth consecutive game finishing his amazing shooting performance with 27 points on 10 of 13 marksmanship from the floor and an impressive 7 of 9 from three. Also noteworthy on the night was Emeka Erege's big play down the stretch. Erege finished his fine game with 19 points (15 in second half), 7 rebounds and 5 assists. Florian Mobius was the only other Ulmer to reach double figures with 11 on a night when only 6 of the talented 12 Ulm team members scored.
Ulm's Kenny Price was ON FIRE hitting 10 of 13 shots and 7 of 9 threes. Although the game statistics show Chemnitz advantage, several key stats tell a different story. After being outworked and out rebounded in the first half 29-12, Ulm out rebounded Chemnitz in the second half 16-11 and allowed only 4 offensive rebounds after giving up 12 in the first 20 minutes. Secondly, Ulm's poor first half free throw performance of 8 for 17 was clearly reversed as the team hit 10 of 13 free throws down the stretch helping themselves win. Finally, Ulm's excellent perimeter shooting percentage, 53% from the floor, was mostly a result of the teams brilliant 13 for 26 three point accuracy. Chemnitz put 5 players in double figures led by Jaivon Harris' 17 while Kendric Brooks and Avi Kazarnovsky produced 13 points apiece. Serge Charikov 11 and Martin Schuster 10 also contributed. Lars Buss was limited to 7 points and 4 rebounds on the night and sharpshooting Igor Pletnev was not the same factor like in the German Cup meeting.
Ulm players enjoy a challenging team win Capturing the two tough road points in Chemnitz give ratiopharm Ulm tremendous momentum as they return to action for Sunday's home game against 6-5 Nordlingen at 4pm on "Family Day" at Sportszentrum Kuhberg. The last Ulm game before their Christmas break, a second win on the weekend would give the team a great feeling as they enjoy the Holidays and enter the second half of the season. Follow all the fastbreaking ratiopharm Ulm basketball action all season long on Taylorhoops.com! GO ULM! MIKE T
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