TAYLORHOOPS.COM ULM UPDATE
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FAST START KEYS OLDENBURG!
ratiopharm Ulm's slow start dug a hole in Oldenburg as the Thunderbirds flew to a 90-78 victory in Bundesliga basketball action Saturday night at Ewe Arena. Exploding to a 10-0 lead and expanding the advantage to 34-13, Oldenburg's athletic front line of Desmond Penigar and D'Or Ficher keyed the home teams attack. Showing tremendous heart, Ulm fought back slicing the lead to 4 at 59-55 but roll player Heiko Schaffartzik made the difference for the Thunderbirds as his back to back threes struck like lighning to break the game open for Oldenburg once again. While they lost the game, ratiopharm Ulm did win the head-to-head comparison against Oldenburg with a +2 for the season after their 91-77 (+14) home win October 11th and the 12 point loss Saturday night.
Ulm C Bryan Lucas defends Oldenburg's Dan Grunfeld.
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Click here for Box Score Ulm vs Oldenburg Game
After an excellent road trip northward to the North Sea coast of Germany and the beautiful city of Oldenburg, ratiopharm Ulm prepared for an intense rematch against an opponent with visions for the playoffs. Ewe Baskets Oldenburg were facing heavy expectations for success and had bounced back from their slow start to the season with excellent play of late. Veteran Head Coach Don Beck has molded his unit into a determined team which has been extremely strong at home in Ewe Arena. Recently, Trier left losing by 38 points and Tubingen went home beaten by 19. Midweek, Oldenburg emerged with an impressive Cup win on the road over Telekom Bonn. Clearly, Oldenburg were clicking.
Meanwhile, ratiopharm Ulm entered Ewe Arena coming off a strong performance in last Sunday's loss at ALBA Berlin. Winners in 4 of their last 5, Ulm took the floor with confidence feeling good. Unfortunately for Ulm, Saturday evening Ewe Arena was like a Lion's Den!
photo from www.ewe-baskets.de
Oldenburg G Doron Perkins slices between Ulm defenders Jonathan Levy and Bryan Lucas.
From the opening tip, a focused Oldenburg team seemed one step ahead of the guests from Ulm. An uptempo transition attack resulted in easy baskets as Oldenburg ran the floor with outstanding precision and ratiopharm Ulm was not completely focused on D. Easy baskets came in the form of points in the paint as D'Or Fischer wheeled and dealed in the lane and also scored on stickbacks. More easy baskets came as Oldenburg broke into the open court for fast break points. Desmond Penigar hammered home two spectacular dunks which brought the Oldenburg fans into the game early. After the Thunderbirds stormed to a 10-0 lead, Ulm took their first timeout to regroup. Amazingly, only two Oldenburg players scored in the first quarter. Fischer and Penigar double-teamed Ulm for double figures which resulted in a double digit lead 21-10 after one. Ulm's offense struggled shooting 5 for 21 (24%) from the floor including 0-5 from three. The major difference in the early action took place in the paint where Oldenburg finished 7 of 9 plays while Ulm was 3 for 11. Between quarters, Ulm discussed their defensive performance in the first quarter and aimed for much improvement as the game progressed.
photo from www.ewe-baskets.de
Ulm C Maksym Shtein pressures Oldenburg All Star big man D'Or Fischer.
Starting the second quarter, Oldenburg's run continued. Turnovers plagued Ulm's play and fed into the Thunderbird transition game. Rather than cut the deficit, Ulm saw the gap grow as Oldenburg extended their lead to 34-13 with a 13-3 run. Ulm's second timeout of the first half stopped the bleeding and action was relatively even to the half. Heading into the lockerroom behind 46-27, Ulm had time to analyze their situation and come up with some answers.
At the half, Ulm aimed to turn the game around. Trailing by 19 points, much work was needed, but the team focused on attacking together with a possession by possession mentality and committed to tougher D. Step by step, they were determined to work back. Opening action in the third, D'Or Fischer overpowered Maksym Shtein in the lane and things looked similar to the first twenty minutes. However, the heart of the Ulm team persevered and changed the game. Jonathan Levy sank a right wing three off an Austen Rowland penetrate and pitch. Rowland then poked loose a steal and finished in transition. Levy banked in a second three from the top of the key. Emeka Erege finished a tough layup in transition. Soon, Ulm was consistently recording stops and coverting buckets. Another three from Rowland and the game was again manageble under ten! Ulm's run would not stop there. With just over one minute to play in the third quarter, Ulm pulled to within 4 at 53-49. Ulm's 29-16 third quarter brought them back and was keyed by their defensive intensity and consistent stops. After three Oldenburg's big lead was only 6 at 62-56.
photo from www.ewe-baskets.de
Ulm's Jonathan Levy forces a Carl Krauser miss.
As exciting as the comeback was, the energy expended took its toll on the Ulm team. Key bench contributions came in the form of Konrad Wysocki, Bryan Lucas and Ian Young. However, it was a bench player from Oldenburg who made the biggest difference on this day. Combo guard Heiko Schaffartzik stepped up to spark his Thunderbird teammates when they needed him most. As Ulm roared back into the game, the Lion's Den of Ewe Arena seemed to cool. But it was Schaffartzik's back to back threes that ignited the fire once again extending Oldenburg's lead to 10 and forcing an Ulm timeout. For the game Heiko sank 5 of 6 from beyond the arc. The threes were a major blow to Ulm'c comeback attempt and with time running out, things looked to be settled.
But for these two 9-10 teams ranked 9th and 10th coming in, the direct comparison or head to head tie breaker was also up for grabs. Winning by 14 at home (91-77), Ulm aimed for the tie-breaker over Oldenburg and could hold it with a win or a loss by less than 14. On the other bench, Oldenburg wanted the win AND the head to head tie breaker which meant they needed to win by 15. Both teams and benches were well aware of what was at stake and played the final minutes of action with the result in balance. These were possibly the most interesting moments of the entire game! Oldenburg benefited from a techincal foul assessed to the Ulm bench. Key stops and scores from Gibbs and Rowland cut the score to 8 points with under one minute remaining. At the final horn, Oldenburg had won 90-78 with a strong home performance, but ratiopharm Ulm took the head to head direct comparison.
photo from www.ewe-baskets.de
Jeff Gibbs and Desmond Penigar showcased their skills in an exciting matchup. Gibbs posted a double double of 14 points 10 rebounds while Penigar topscored in the game with 22.
The slow start put Ulm in a hole while Oldenburg's strong start gave them command and control in the game. Battling back, Ulm demonstrated excellent character as a team, but their efforts fell short as they ran out of time and gas. Credit should be given to Don Beck and his team for their outstanding performance. For Ulm, Konrad Wysocki topscored with 16 points while Jonathan Levy and Jeff Gibbs added 14 points apiece. Gibbs grabbed 10 rebounds and Bryan Lucas added 7 points 9 boards in the loss. Ulm made 42% (29-69) from the floor and hit only 13 of 20% from the foul line. Both Ulm and Oldenburg totaled 37 rebounds each. For Oldenburg, Desmond Penigar was best scorer with 22 points 5 boards and D'Or Fischer tallied 20 points on 8 of 9 shooting. Heiko Schaffartzik added an important 17 points on 5 of 6 three point marksmanship. Finally, Dan Grunfeld actively cut his way with intelligent play to 15 points 8 rebounds in the win. Oldenburg shot 51% (33-65) as they evened out at 10-10 while Ulm slipped to 9-11.
photo from www.ewe-baskets.de
Oldenburg G Heiko Schaffartzik sank 5 of 6 threes to spark his team from the bench
ratiophram Ulm gets right back to action boarding their team bus for another exciting road trip to Giessen to play the 46ers Wednesday night in the next round of the German Cup. Tip-off is set for 845pm against the 46ers. Follow all the fastbreaking ratiopharm Ulm Bundesliga basketball action all season long on Taylorhoops.com!
GO ULM!
MIKE T
