Basketball: medi bayreuth loses 42:86 at Telekom Baskets Bonn

Medi bayreuth lost the game of the 28th matchday in the easyCredit Basketball Bundesliga at Telekom Baskets Bonn. 6,000 spectators in the sold-out Telekom Dome saw an unchallenged 86:42 home victory for the Rhinelanders, who have won all 14 BBL games in their own hall so far this season.

The start of the game was initially marked by a few missed shots and ball losses on both sides before Bonn captain Karsten Tadda took heart after an assist from Leon Kratzer and scored from beyond the three-point line. Less than 40 seconds later, it was another pass from Kratzer to Tadda that increased the hosts' lead to 6:0. It took just under three minutes for Otis Livingston II to redeem his team and mark the first medi points. Head Coach Mladen Drijencic's team fought back as hard as they could, but the Bonners were able to take a double-digit lead after just nine minutes and so the first quarter went clearly to the favourites with 25:11.

The second game unit opened with a successful three-point shot by Jackson Rowe, so that the deficit melted a little. But once again, the Rhinelanders knew the right answer, scoring at a high percentage and forcing medi to take distance shots that rarely found their target. Since the Bonn team also had absolute dominance under the board and presented medi's defence with almost insurmountable tasks, the hosts won the quarter with a commanding 17:7, so that the deficit for Bastian Doreth & Co. was already a whopping 24 points after 20 minutes.

Medi came out of the dressing room with a lot of verve and managed to start the second half with 10:3 in their favour, so that they were able to reduce the deficit to 28:45. But Bonn wouldn't be Bonn this season if they didn't have the right answer and within seconds they were back in the clear. Head coach Tuomas Iisalo's team acted too cleverly, found gaps in the Bayreuth defence again and again, continued to score at a high percentage and also took advantage of the fact that medi did not have a great day in terms of throwing.

In the last quarter, the Bonn team made things even clearer. Although medi tried to defend themselves against the favourites, the dominance of the Rhinelanders was simply too great. As both the shooting quota and the rebound inferiority of medi were far too clear, they deservedly lost the game against Telekom Baskets Bonn with 42:86.

Mladen Drijencic: "The clear relationship in the standings could also be seen here on the court today, but despite all the circumstances, our defence held the Bonners to 86 points. So I can say that we brought enough energy here and also wanted to. We stayed true to ourselves over 40 minutes and fought and I hope we take that into the next game on Tuesday and then also control the defensive rebounding better."

Head coach Mladen Drijencic's team is already in demand again on Tuesday evening. On the 29th matchday, the NINERS Chemnitz will be Bayreuth's guests. Jump in the Oberfrankenhalle is at 8:30 pm.