Ulm basketball team suffers first home defeat
At the end of the first round of the EuroCup, ratiopharm Ulm's basketball team suffered its first home defeat in the European Cup. The reigning German champions lost 84:89 (33:53) to JL Bourg en Bresse on Wednesday despite a strong comeback. The team of Head Coach Anton Gavel had previously won all four home games in the EuroCup. Ulm also snapped a run of five wins in a row in all competitions.
Ulm scored easy points at the start of the game thanks to quick attacks, but struggled in the half-court. The visitors tied the scores at 17:17 at the break thanks to a number of threes. Ulm got off to a false start in the second period, going 2:13 down, with neither offense nor defense working for the home side. As a result, the German Basketball League club had to concede 33:53 by half-time.
Ulm defended more intensively in the third period and forced a number of turnovers, reducing the deficit to single digits thanks to a 14:0 run. In the final period, the 18-year-old French youngster Pacome Dadiet (14 points) and Thomas Klepeisz (20 points) pulled the home side even closer and Ulm reduced the deficit to 74:76 with just under four minutes to play. Yet the German champions were no longer able to turn the game around, as Juan Nunez missed a three to tie the scores with four seconds remaining.
Despite their strong performance in the EuroCup, with four consecutive home victories before the match, the ratiopharm Ulm basketball team experienced their first home defeat in the European Cup against JL Bourg en Bresse. This loss came during the final round of the EuroCup.
Despite being reigning German champions and having a successful EuroCup campaign, the Ulm basketball team suffered a narrow defeat in the EuroCup to JL Bourg en Bresse, finishing the first round with a score of 84:89.
Source: www.dpa.com
