Basketball: medi gets first away win of the season

On the 30th matchday in the easyCredit Basketball Bundesliga, Head Coach Mladen Drijencic's team landed its first away win of the season, ending a season-long drought of 431 days without a BBL success on an opponent's floor.

In front of 4,530 spectators at Frankfurt's Süwag Energie ARENA, medi bayreuth won 113:107 against FRAPORT SKYLINERS on Sunday afternoon to record their sixth victory of the season. The outstanding players on medi's side were Ahmed Hill and Otis Livingston II, who together scored 67 of medi's points and each set a new personal BBL best.

Medi started the game very focused and quickly took a 13:3 lead thanks to an excellent throwing ratio. Even the Frankfurt time-out did not help much, because medi continued to score ice-cold from distance and was also extremely committed in defence, so that after the end of the first quarter a 26:17 lead was on the scoreboard. At first, it seemed as if the hosts could now take control of the game by making important stops and coming back to within 25:31 of medi. However, the Bayreuth team again created high-percentage, fast finishes. The gigantic quota beyond the three-point line went down only minimally in the second quarter and Ahmed Hill led his team to a 55:36 halftime lead.

The game picked up speed, which medi in particular was able to take advantage of at first and pulled away to 66:43. The subsequent time-out by Frankfurt shook up the home team. But the fact that the SKYLINERS "only" came within five points was mainly due to the very strong performance of Ahmed Hill, who made a successful three-point shot in the last second of the third quarter to increase the lead to 84:76.

In the final period, the Hessians fought their way back to medi point by point. But, how could it have been otherwise this afternoon, Ahmed Hill in particular had something against it. The best player of the game hit one of his eight threes this afternoon to extend the lead to seven points. The Hessians once again fought vehemently against the threat of defeat, but medi defied every further chase and, in a real offensive spectacle, secured the first away victory of the season with 113:107.

Mladen Drijencic: "First of all, I would like to say that we experienced a great atmosphere in the arena today. I was very worried about how our team would react mentally to this situation. So I am very proud of the boys, because they reacted well and controlled the game for the most part. I am very pleased with the victory. Now our further games have a meaning, because otherwise we would have just been bumbling around."

Next Wednesday, 26.04.2023, the penultimate home game of this season is on the agenda. The MLP Academics Heidelberg will then be our guests in Oberfrankenhalle at 7 pm.