TAYLORHOOPS.COM ULM UPDATE
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Ulm Fizzles in Frankfurt!
For ratiopharm Ulm Wednesday night at Ballsporthalle in Frankfurt was Deja Vu All over again. Last month at Sportszentrum Kuhberg, the sharp Deutsche Bank Skyliner team made big plays down the stretch to emerge from Ulm with a tough 87-83 road win. Wednesday, Ulm positioned themselves well once again leading 59-52 heading into the fourth quarter but another Frankfurt finish, keyed by an 18-3 run, sealed the Skyliners 82-69 midweek win. Ulm's fourth quarter, which will not be part of the teams highlight reel, began with several turnovers until a techincal foul on Konrad Wysocki gave Frankfurt the opportunity to accelerate their comeback and surpass Ulm. Unfortunately, three strong quarters of play went up in smoke in Ulm's fourth quarter meltdown. Wednesday night, while the Skyliners sizzled, ratiopharm Ulm fizzled in Frankfurt.
Ulm's Jeff Gibbs hammers home two points against the Skyliners Wednesday night.
With a track record of three tightly contested games, Wednesday nights matchup of Ulm against Frankfurt at Ballsporthalle pointed toward another exciting meeting. Both teams were at full strength entering tipoff and the hot Skyliner team had won 5 straight games and 6 of their last 7. Meanwhile, Ulm looked to snap their 4 game Bundesliga skid while taking revenge for last months tough loss to the Skyliners at Sportszentrum Kuhberg in Ulm. Although the teams were moving in the opposite directions over the last month, both Ulm and Frankfurt were focused for a win on Wednesday.
Ulm's Kyle Bailey drives baseline in the early moments of Wednesday nights game against the Deutsche Bank Skyliners at Ballsporthalle in Frankfurt.
At the tip, a motivated Ulm team earned several strong defensive stops on the opening possessions. Off ball reversal, Kyle Bailey sank a right corner three sparking the Ulm attack. On the other end it was a steady diet of Derrick Allen on the block. The Frankfurt All Star scored several post isolation baskets early in the contest and kept the Skyliner offense clicking early on. Backup post man Florian Mobius entered the game and immediately drilled a post reaction three from the left wing giving Ulm a 16-11 lead, but in a foreshadowing of things to come, Frankfurt ran to an 11-0 finish to the first quarter taking a 22-16 advantage into the quarter break.
Ulm's Konrad Wysocki finishes a transition layup over Skyliners guard Jimmy McKinney. Wysocki scored 12 points with 8 rebounds Wednesday in Frankfurt.
Quarter two turned in Ulm's favor. Bryan Lucas sank a long two from the right wing before Konrad Wysocki drilled a three from nearly the same spot. Active cutting and high low action produced layups in the lane. Ulm did their damage on the boards and the guests edged ahead. In a 22-14 second quarter performance, Ulm was solid on both ends of the floor. After a defensive stop, Ulm held for the final possession. Point guard Dru Joyce patiently watched the clock tick down poised to attack. As the clock ticked ten, Konrad Wysocki rubbed off a Sean Finn top of the key screen. Finn wheeled and downscreened for Emeka Erege popping to the top for a catch. But Joyce spotted the Skyliner defenders cheating the play. As Finn cut to the rim, Joyce lobbed a high-arcing dime to the Ulm big man who hammered home the alley oop slam before the first half buzzer sending his team into the halftime lockerroom with a tight 38-36 lead.
Bryan Lucas shows his excellent shooting form with this first half J.
Finn's finish gave Ulm energy in the halftime lockerroom. At the half, had shot 48% from the floor but only 3 of 12 from three and 3 of 6 from the foul line. The teams hardwork on the boards had them outrebounding Frankfurt 17-12 and Ulm had forced 9 Skyliner turnovers. Ulm's strong second quarter resulted when the team attempted 11 shots in the paint after managing only 3 in the first ten minutes. A balanced offensive attack put Ulm in the lead, but the teams defense allowed the Skyliners 54% floor shooting including 3 for 5 from three. Emphasizing an intense defensive effort in the second half, Ulm returned to the floor aiming to snap their skid.
Ulm's Dru Joyce helped spark a third quarter run that resulted in a 7 point lead.
Early action in the third quarter went back and forth. Bryan Lucas buried a left wing three and sank two free throws. With 4:44 remaining in the third, the score was knotted at 44. Ulm's changing defenses began to pay dividends. A quick 9 point run spearheaded by Konrad Wysocki and Dru Joyce gave Ulm excellent momentum in the closing minutes of the third. With a convincing 21-16 quarter, Ulm positioned themselves well heading to the fourth. At the end of three, Ulm held a 59-52 advantage.
Ulm captain Emeka Erege dislocated a finger giving his all diving for a loose ball Wednesday night in Frankfurt. After putting his finger back in place, the Warrior returned.
In between the third and fourth quarters, Ulm aimed for a strong fourth quarter finish to earn a hardfought road win. Unfortunately, in what seemed like a replay of last months Skyliner win at Sporstzentrum Kuhberg in Ulm, Frankfurt rallied for a strong finish while Ulm let opportunities slip away.
Ulm's EJ Gallup defends Frankfurt's Dominik Bahiense de Mello in Wednesdays Bundesliga game at Ballsporthalle.
The sequence of events started with Ulm's opening offensive possession of the fourth quarter. As point guard Kyle Bailey penetrated the lane, Frankfurt defenders rotated to stop the penetration. Skillfully zipping a pass to an open Bryan Lucas just to the right of the rim, Ulm had the chance to lengthen their lead. Unfortunately for Ulm, Bryan missed the layin and an aggressive Skyliner defense ripped down the rebound. On the other end, Bryan went for a steal on a post feed that took him out of position along the right baseline. Derrick Allen pivoted and darted to the rim. Rotating along the baseline, Ulm help defense scrambled to stop the play. But as Emeka Erege made a hard swipe at the basketball, he was called for an Unsportsmanlike foul. Allen sank a free throw to trim the Ulm lead to an even 6. On the ensuing possession, Ilian Evtimov worked middle and split a soft Ulm double team for a bucket in the lane. Ulm's lead was 4, 59-55. At the other end, EJ Gallup buried a clutch top of the key three rebuilding Ulm's lead to 7, 62-55. Unfortunately, it would be Ulm's last basket from the floor for the next 8 minutes. Evtimov scored spinning baseline in the paint pulling Frankfurt to 62-57. In response, poor Ulm execution led to a Kyle Bailey turnover which triggered a Skyliner runout and Emeka Erege foul. As Evtimov prepared for two foul shots, Ulm attempted to stop the run with a timeout. Returning to the floor, Evtimov sank both foul shots and the Ulm lead was not three 62-59. Ulm's Jeff Gibbs drew a foul attempting a tip in and cooly sank two clutch free throws. Ulm lead 64-59. Working hard on defense, Ulm forced a tough Skyliner shot and the loose ball rebound was tipped out of bounds along the baseline with 5 seconds on the shot clock. Skyliner head coach Murat Didin called for time to set up a play. In response, Ulm countered by changing to a zone defense on the endline out of the time out. Alertly, on the endline play, Evtimov snuck into the right corner on the opposite side of the floor. As the ball zipped passed Emeka Erege's ear, Evtimov caught and fired a shot clock beating corner three. The swish trimmed Ulm's lead to 64-62 and brought the Frankfurt crowd into the game. The teams traded defensive stops. Ulm tried to post Wysocki on the block but aggressive Skyliner defense trapped him causing a turnover. On the other end, as Wysocki went for a rebound, Frankfurt's Koko Archibong poked the ball loose into the left corner near Ulm's bench. The athletic Archibong and Ulm captain Emeka Erege hustled after the loose ball. Giving his all and going all out, Emeka layed out diving into the corner. Ulm came up with possession as Archibong knocked the basketball out of bounds, but Erege came up with a dislocated finger pointing in the wrong direction. Forced to leave the game to relocate his finger, Ulm gained possession but lost their captain. Leading 64-62 with 5 minutes to play, Ulm went to work on a key possession. Working the ball to Wysocki, the Ulm all star small forward attacked the basket driving hard to his right. As Konrad's shot bounced hard off the board and rim, several players hustled for the rebound. In the mix, Konrad ended up on the floor. While Frankfurt players fast breaked the other direction searching for the game tying score, Wysocki was flat on his back in frustration. A technical foul was called stopping the Frankfurt fast break but starting the Skyliners surge. Clearly, no call was the correct call but Konrad let his emotions get the best of him. Ulm's charity, the technical sent Skyliner veteran Pascal Roller to the charity stripe and he immediately sank two shots to tie the game. Making matters worse, a Koko Archibong three point play added insult to injury and Frankfurt's five point gift from Ulm gave them a 67-64 lead. Ulm's charity continued. A Bryan Lucas turnover in the post started another Skyliner fast break. On the next possession a Kyle Bailey turnover started a Pascal Roller fast break and EJ Gallup fouled him making it an AND1. Lucas sent a pass sailing out of bounds to the left corner for another turnover. Trailing 71-64 with the clock nearing two minutes, Ulm's last ditch effort to change momentum was a change in defenses. But it was Koko Archibong who sealed the result with a clutch right wing three giving Frankfurt a 10 point lead 74-64. Archibong later punctuated the Skyliner win with a breakaway slam seconds before the buzzer capping Frankfurt's 82-69 win. Deja Vu to recent games in their slide, Ulm had again battled hard for a majority of the game and positioned themselves for a win only to let the opportunity slip away. Frankfurts 30-10 fourth quarter was clearly a combination of strong Skyliner play and Ulm charity. Clearly, the final ten minutes will not be part of the Ulm highlight reel at the end of the season. Positioned well, with plenty of opportunities in the fourth quarter, Wednesday night Ulm fizzled for 8 minutes while the Skyliners sizzled.
Ulm post man Florian Mobius drilled a three helping his team to an early lead in Wednesdays game at Frankfurt.
In the game, Ulm shot 43% from the floor, 6 for 20 (30%) from three and 17 of 28 (61%) from the foul line. Ulm outrebounded Frankfurt 40-29 but suffered 18 turnovers and allowed the Skyliners 49% floor shooting. Konrad Wysocki (12 points 8 rebounds 3 steals), Jeff Gibbs (11 points 8 rebounds), Bryan Lucas (11 points 4 rebounds) and Kyle Bailey (10 points 4 rebounds) all reached double figures for Ulm and EJ Gallup, Sean Finn and Dru Joyce chipped in 7 points apiece. Ilian Evtimov topscored with 22 points and Koko Archibong added 21 points 9 boards for Frankfurt in the win while Pascal Roller had 15 points and Derrick Allen 11.
For ratiopharm Ulm and Mike Taylor, Wednesday nights fourth quarter was more than a little frustrating.
Staying positive and together, ratiopharm Ulm returns to action Sunday night in Giessen where they meet LTi Giessen 46ers for a 7pm tip in a game that can be seen live on BBL.TV (www.sportdigital.tv). Follow all the fast breaking ratiopharm Ulm Bundesliga Basketball action all season long on Taylorhoops.com!
GO ULM!
MIKE T
