medi Bayreuth beats Petrol Olimpija Ljubljana 82:71
The HEROES OF TOMORROW celebrated another victory in their final home game of this season’s Champions League on Wednesday evening, chalking up their fifth win in their 13th BCL game of the current campaign against Petrol Olimpija Ljubljana, a Slovenian club that has a string of national titles to its name, by the margin of 82:71 (42:43).
An evenly matched game ensued in the opening minutes, with the HEROES OF TOMORROW having slight advantages. The team of Head Coach Raoul Korner repeatedly carved out good scoring opportunities through Adonis Thomas, Kassius Robertson and De’Mon Brooks. Yet Ljubljana also put up stiff resistance and in particular snapped up a hefty eight offensive rebounds. However, Bayreuth had the far better field goal percentage and so took the first period 24:18.
It was a long time before medi added to its haul in the second period. Its shots did not want to drop and for a long time it was not able to put up much resistance against the Slovenian club in offense. Ljubljana was repeatedly able to score easy buckets through Marvin Jones, with the result that Raoul Korner was forced to call his first timeout after his side conceded 11 points without reply. That had the desired effect: Captain Bastian Doreth drained a three to put Bayreuth’s first points of the second period on the board after almost five minutes of play. Although the HEROES OF TOMORROW were now always slightly behind, they were a match for their opponents again and so they went into the break trailing narrowly by 42:43.
The team of Sasa Nikitovic was initially able to hold onto its lead in the third quarter and had the right response to every attempt by medi to catch up. However, medi Bayreuth intensified its defending more and more and so did not let the opposing side score any more easy buckets. As a result, Adonis Thomas was able to recapture the lead for his side midway through the period. Not much clicked now for Ljubljana, while solid play by Bayreuth was enough for it to open up a 60:55 gap by the end of the quarter.
In the final ten minutes, the HEROES OF TOMORROW soon made it clear that they would not let victory be snatched from their grasp and built their largest lead – 69:57 – with just under six minutes remaining. The home side then kept Ljubljana at arm’s length in cool and composed fashion. Thanks to fighting defense and the right game in offense, medi withstood every attempt by the visitors to stage a comeback. Buoyed by an improved display in the second half, the team of Raoul Korner therefore ran out deserved winners by 82:71.
Source: www.medi-bayreuth.de