FIBA Europe Cup: medi Bayreuth ends first group stage with win on the road

medi Bayreuth ended the first round of the FIBA Europe Cup on Cyprus on Wednesday evening with its fourth win. On the sixth game day, the team of Head Coach Raoul Korner defeated APOEL Nicosia by 83:68 (39:35) on the road and, as was already certain going into the encounter, finished second in the table behind BK Ventspils and so will advance to the next group stage of the competition.

It comprises four groups, each with four teams in them. The HEROES OF TOMORROW now face Benfica Lissabon (POR), Bakken Bears (DEN) and Spirou Basket Charleroi (BEL). As in the first round, all teams will play each other once at home and once away. After the sixth game day, the top two in each group (i.e. a total of eight teams) will qualify for the quarter-finals. medi Bayreuth starts its campaign in the second group stage by traveling to Bakken Bears in Denmark on December 11.

Whereas medi’s play was a little placid to begin with, the home side’s center Leron Dendy slipped into top gear pretty quickly and had already notched up 11 points by the end of the first period. Yet the HEROES OF TOMORROW refused to be perturbed on the evening. With the score standing at 11:10 in the 6th minute, the team of Head Coach Raoul Korner piled on the pressure. The Cypriot club always kept in close contention up to the break (39:35), but a short spurt at the start of the second half helped medi Bayreuth surge ahead by the clear margin of 52:38 in the 24th minute. The HEROES OF TOMORROW were once more able to build on their unity as a team. By the end of the game, every member of the team had scored at least two points and Korner did not have to play anyone for more than 20 minutes, with the exception of Lucky Jones (23:42) and James Robinson (20:22). In contrast, Nate Linhart spent the shortest time on court: just 9:18 minutes. medi also finished up with the better shooting percentages in all departments; Reid Travis and his teammates also won the rebounding duel by 47:33.

Raoul Korner, Head Coach of medi Bayreuth, commented: “This game was very difficult going into it because nothing was at stake. And then there were as good as no spectators – I even believe the Bayreuth Bats outnumbered the home fans. At the end of the day, we won the game, spread the time on court nicely over all 12 players and were able to rest the ones we wanted to rest. In addition, no one got hurt, so the game was a success all in all.”

The HEROES OF TOMORROW will return from the warm south today, but will not head for Bayreuth, but instead directly to the far north of Germany, where they face an encounter at Hamburg Towers on Saturday, November 30. The game against the newly promoted club will tip off in the edel-optics.de Arena at 8:30 p.m.

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