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Würzburg

Baskets win at home with gala display from beyond the arc

Würzburg, 01-03-2020

s.Oliver Würzburg has started the new year with its third home win in a row. Thanks to a strong 3-point field goal percentage of 57 and good first 27 minutes, the club from Lower Franconia romped to a comfortable 97:83 victory against Basketball Lions Braunschweig in the again sold-out s.Oliver Arena to kick off the 15th game day of the easyCredit German Basketball League on Friday. s.Oliver Würzburg’s ninth win of the season means it is now fourth in the table, at least for one day. The game’s top scorer was Skyler Bowlin, who notched up 20 points for the second time in five days, as well as a high 3-point field goal percentage.

As in the 100:93 home victory against Telekom Baskets Bonn last Sunday, s.Oliver Würzburg also drained 12 threes against the club from Lower Saxony, but instead of 26 it needed just 21 attempts – giving an extremely good shooting percentage of 57. Skyler Bowlin was the most accurate marksman from downtown in both games, chalking up a total of 11 buckets from 20 attempts (55 percent).

Unlike in the last home game, however, it took a few minutes this time for the home side to get into the game and play with the requisite intensity and precision in front of 3,140 spectators. Whereas the Braunschweig Lions stamped their presence on the game from the very first second and were able to score on each of their first six attacks, Würzburg did not click to begin with and so trailed by 5:14 in the 4th minute, which forced Denis Wucherer to call his first timeout. “The energy of two or three players in the starting five was not at the level it ought to be against an opponent who had something to prove after a weakish performance at home against Oldenburg. We got a better handle on Braunschweig’s fast play and good marksmen after we made changes,” explained the Head Coach afterwards.

Right after the timeout, Florian Koch drained two buckets from beyond the arc and eight points in succession to spur his side’s comeback, which culminated in it snatching the lead even before the opening period ended: Jordan Hulls buried his second three as the clock ran down to put Würzburg 28:25 ahead. With the first action in the second quarter, the Lions’ sharpshooter Thomas Klepeisz (19 points/5 threes) tied the scores at 28:28, but then it was not long until s.Oliver Würzburg got a grip on the game and was able to open up a double-digit advantage thanks to a 9:0 run (42:32 in the 16th minute).

The highest lead before half-time came from a bucket from outside by Skyler Bowlin (52:37 in the 20th minute) and the teams changed ends with the score standing at 54:40. The home side kept up the pace in the first seven minutes after the break: Bowlin first extended the gap with two more threes, then he found Felix Hoffmann and Luke Fischer, who were able to exploit his good passes at the board. Braunschweig’s fighting spirit was only aroused once Würzburg had surged 71:47 ahead in the 27th minute – a difference of 24 points and the highest lead in a game that was by then as good as over.

The club from Lower Saxony did not give up and kept on fighting, but was not able to reduce the deficit to less than 12 points (81:69 in the 35th minute). By the time Cameron Wells drained a three to make it 89:71 in the 38th minute, the game was finally over. Yet Wucherer was not fully satisfied after the commanding home victory: “We still need to take the next step. When you lead by 14 points at the break, you have to be hungry and clever enough to build on that and do a similar good job in the second half. Then you can also use the second half to learn. We didn’t manage to do that against Bonn on Sunday or today.”

s.Oliver Würzburg now has a three-week break, since it does not have an encounter on the 16th game day and has been knocked out of the MagentaSport German cup. The players have been given a week off and will then start preparing for the final encounter in the first half of the season on the 17th game day: on the road at Hamburg Towers on January 25. “The guys have earned their break. I’m looking forward to when they get back and we can keep on working to follow up from our performances of the past few games in Hamburg, too,” added Wucherer. “I think the 25 assists today were too few and the 18 turnovers we conceded were far too many. We have to address that deficit if we want to become a serious playoff contender at some time and produce successful basketball in the playoffs.”

Source: www.soliver-wuerzburg.de