ratiopharm Ulm Rolls to 109-85 Win Over Lich!
ratiopharm Ulm rolled to a 109-85 road win over a shorthanded TV Lich team in 2.Bundesliga South Game Day 27 Saturday night at Dietrich Bonhoefer Halle in Lich Germany. Exploding to a strong 19-4 start, Ulm took control with an uptempo attack resulting in a 35 point first quarter and 63 point first half. Eventually, every Ulm player scored as the team improved to 26-1 on the season moving on the brink of the Bundesliga. Reducing their "Magic Number" to one, Ulm can now clinch the 2.Bundesliga South championship and earn promotion into Germany's top basketball league as early as next weekend with a win over Freiburg.
One win away, the Bundesliga is in sight!
Game 27 Saturday April 8, 2006 8pm
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A sunny spring German day bus trip took ratiopharm Ulm north of Frankfurt to the small burg of Lich for a Saturday evening 2.Bundesliga South Game Day 27 tip. Rolling on momentum from last weekend's outstanding overtime team win in Bayreuth coupled with second-place Jena's road loss in Chemnitz, Ulm entered the night needing two wins to clinch the league championship and earn promotion to the Bundesliga, Germany's first division. For this beautiful spring afternoon, Ulm's mindset was focused on business. Arriving in Lich, word quickly spread of injury troubles within the host camp. It was well known that scoring guard DJ Boticki struggled in recent weeks with a banged up knee, but Lich captain Rolf Scholz was also rumoured to miss the game with injury. Well aware of pre-game tactics, Ulm players cemented their focus on themselves and their game rather than be distracted by the unknown. The answer would be clear in a little less than two hours at tipoff. As Ulm arrived in Lich, several players were excited to meet with family and friends. For Ulm forward Konrad Wysocki, Lich was a very special game in a "homecoming" sense. Wysocki, the son of a former Bundesliga player, grew up in Giessen, the neighboring town to Lich. In fact, to this day, Lich is the second division farm team for first league Giessen 46ers. Meeting with family and friends, Saturday's game was very important to Wysocki. Also happy to see loved ones, Ulm wing Jan Sprunken was greeted with a large cheering section at the gym. The Munster Germany native enjoyed the evening in Lich as well.
By tip, it was clear Lich was shorthanded. With only 7 players in layup lines, it looked to be a long night for Lich. Head Coach Dejan Kostic always has his team ready to play hard, but with such a shorthanded lineup featuring one true guard, the deck was stacked against them.
Ulm forward Konrad Wysocki at the line in his "homecoming game" at Lich.
From the start, Ulm kept the tempo up. Pressing and trapping and changing defenses, Ulm created turnovers and pushed the basketball in transition. Determined and focused, the team pounded the ball inside to Jeff Gibbs and Maksym Shtein while capitalizing on fast break situations. Exploding to a lead, before anyone could blink, Ulm led 19-4 and 23-5. Jonathan Levy hit momentum building three point shots to help Ulm build their advantage. But the most significant basket came when Ulm captain Emeka Erege trailed the break that saw point guard Martin Thuesen advance the ball up the right wing after a Lich turnover. As Thuesen drew attention and defenders to the right wing, Erege smoothly filled the lane through the top of the key down the middle of the floor. Thuesen slipped Erege a pass in stride and the Ulm captain powered down the paint hammering home a thunderdunk that posterized helpless Lich guard Viktor Klassen. Seeing Erege slam on Klassen, the Ulm bench and cheering section went wild. Ulm rolled to their early lead and seemed to be on their way to an easy win.
But Lich battled back. Klassen bounced back to bury two threes and leagues leading scorer Reggie Golson went one on one for buckets. Soon Lich found an offensive rhythm and settled down against the Ulm press. By the end of the first quarter, Ulm held a 35-21 lead.
Not only was the game going Ulm's way, the tempo was also fast which would benefit Ulm later in the action. Unfortunately, human nature set in and Ulm players eased up a bit to start quarter two. Lich continued to fight hard and make plays. When Ulm turnovers mounted with careless offensive passing, it was time for timeout number one. Later in the quarter, as the Lich team made a run mostly due to sub par Ulm defensive effort, Ulm took timeout number two. As both teams huddled, the large Ulm lead had been trimmed to 10. Focusing on containing the ball one on one without overpressure, blocking out with rebounding and making simple, strong plays on offense to take care of the ball with sureness, Ulm went back to work. Guards Jan Sprunken and Christian Grosse made immediate impact drilling threes and making plays. Forwards Konrad Wysocki and Florian Mobius injected energy into the front court. Nice game management down the stretch put Ulm in a position to make plays as trapping forced a Lich turnover as they held for a final shot. Then with 11 seconds remaining, Ulm executed their full court play to perfection as Christian Grosse weaved through the Lich defense before dropping off a dime to cutting forward Florian Mobius who finished the half with a basket at the buzzer. With this strong finish to the second quarter, Ulm rebuilt their lead to 20+ and went into the halftime lockerroom up 63-41.
Jan Sprunken sinks a three in the first half. The Ulm guard hit 3 of 6 from behind the arc in the game.
Pleased with the first half of play and position after twenty minutes, Ulm focused their attention on their defense aiming to take away some easy baskets from Lich. Aside from the second quarter momentary let-down, Ulm played well offensively and changed defenses well to keep the tempo up. With another strong half, Ulm could cut their magic number in half.
Like the start of the game, Ulm started the second half strong with a steady dose of Jeff Gibbs in the paint. Defensively, Ulm tightened up and the result was a commanding 23-11 3rd quarter. Heading into the fourth, Ulm held an 86-53 lead.
In the second half, Ulm guard Christian Grosse played well at the point drilling shots from the perimeter and handling the Lich ballpressure well. Also making an impact off the bench, forward Florian Mobius was hot from the perimeter and banged on the boards. Flo also ran a baseline basket cut and took a hi-low pass for a strong 4th quarter dunk in traffic. Finally, Konrad Wysocki played with energy and got to the foul line with aggressive offensive play around the rim. With 3:30 remaining, Ulm head coach Mike Taylor subbed in young players Antonis Sivorotka, Marcel Friede and Sebastian Geserick. Sivorotka, coming off a fantastic 42 point game in the Neu Ulm season finale last Tuesday, went to work on the block and backboards finishing with 4 points and 4 boards in just under 4 minutes of action. Meanwhile, both Friede and Geserick executed well and cracked the scoring column with one free throw each.
As the final buzzer sounded, Ulm walked off the floor with an important 109-85 win. Lich should be congratulated for their fine effort despite missing key players out with injury. Ulm simply outlasted them with depth and players. For the game, ratiopharm Ulm hit 57% (39-68) from the floor including 12 of 30 threes (40%). Significantly, the "Bench Mob" stepped up for Ulm as Christian Grosse, Jan Sprunken and Florian Mobius sank 7 of 12 triples. Ulm outrebounded lich 41-25 and created 21 steals. Unfortuantely, Ulm was somewhat sloppy in the second quarter and second half leading to 19 turnovers. Lich hit 49% (27-55) and 47% from three (7-15). Lich also came up with 19 steals but suffered 22 turnovers.
Jeff Gibbs and his Ulm teammates are up to something....
For Ulm, power forward Jeff Gibbs topscored with a strong game of 20 points with 9 rebounds and 6 steals. Gibbs hit 10-12 from the foul line on the night. Jonathan Levy added 19 points and 4 steals including 3 first half threes that helped Ulm start fast. Center Maksym Shtein added 12 points 8 rebounds on 6 of 8 from the floor. Off the bench, Christian Grosse and Florian Mobius were strong both scoring 11 points for Ulm. Jan Sprunken added 9 while Emeka Erege, Konrad Wysocki chipped in 8 points apiece and point guard Martin Thuesen produced 5 points and 5 assists. Reggie Golson led Lich with 25 points 8 rebounds while Niels Vorenhout added 18 points 5 rebounds with 6 steals. Young prospect Johannes Lischka scored 13 points with 7 rebounds despite playing in a youth game earlier in the day.
Now 26-1, ratiopharm Ulm rests on the brink of the 2.Bundesliga South championship. A win next Saturday can clinch the title and promotion into the Bundesliga. Sportszentrum Kuhberg has been sold out since last weekend and is expected to be a zoo. Follow all the fast breaking ratiopharm Ulm basketball action all season long on Taylorhoops.com
GO ULM!
MIKE T
