medi Bayreuth defeats Jena and loses to Ludwigsburg

medi Bayreuth captured its 10th win of the season on Friday evening against Science City Jena in an encounter postponed from the 2nd game day and so was able to even up its tally (10 wins to 10 losses) in the easyCredit German Basketball League. In a game of two completely different halves, the team of Head Coach Raoul Korner ran out clear and fully deserved winners by 103:78 (39:45) in front of a 3,217 crowd in the Oberfrankenhalle.

However, things looked anything but rosy for Korner’s team to begin with. The visitors from Jena got off to the much better start, especially thanks to Reggie Williams and Ronald Roberts, and scored extremely well from beyond the arc at the outset. In contrast, very little went right for the HEROES OF TOMORROW at the opening, but the team tenaciously fought its way back into the encounter and, after trailing by 14 at one stage, was able to confine the deficit to six points by the break.

And medi Bayreuth continued to fight doggedly after the break. A three by De’Mon Brooks was followed by the action of the evening that finally tilted the game the way of the HEROES OF TOMORROW. No, it was not a slam-dunk or alley oop, a three or a blind behind-the-back pass. It was a rock-hard sequence of defending by Adonis Thomas, who badgered Reggie Williams so hard in the space of a few seconds that the Jena player caused a turnover while trying to pass the ball back.

From that moment on, the confidence of the HEROES OF TOMORROW grew and grew with every situation and they added 32 points in the third and a further 32 in the fourth quarter. And medi Bayreuth now also showed its true face in defense after the break. Whereas it had allowed the team of Head Coach Björn Harmsen to score 28 points in the first period alone, the figure for the whole of the second half was just 33, with the result that the team of captain Bastian Doreth, who was appearing in his 250th German league game, was able to celebrate a win again after six straight defeats.

medi Bayreuth did not manage to capture a playoff berth on the 22nd game day in the easyCredit German Basketball League. In the duel against MHP RIESEN Ludwigsburg, with which it was tied on points going into the game, it lost by the clear margin of 81:109 (38:41). Whereas the visitors were able to move up from seventh to sixth in the table, the HEROES OF TOMORROW are now in 12th with their tally of 10 wins and 11 defeats.

The encounter between medi Bayreuth and MHP RIESEN Ludwigsburg on Sunday evening was almost a carbon copy of the game against Jena on Friday to begin with. Again it was the visitors who got off to the far better start in front of 3,158 spectators in the Oberfrankenhalle. And the second period went pretty much like the encounter barely 48 hours previously. medi Bayreuth got into its stride better and fought its way back into the game, this time mainly thanks to a magnificent and very fighting display by Nik Raivio. On this occasion, it even trailed by 21 points after 11 minutes, yet a bucket from outside by Kyan Anderson on the first attack of the second half tied the scores at 41:41 and anything seemed possible again.

There followed the next parallel to the game on Friday, in which the HEROES OF TOMORROW added an incredible 64 points in the second half. This time it was even 68 points by a team in the second twenty minutes – but unfortunately it was Ludwigsburg who put them on the board, above all with an excellent haul from beyond the arc, to add to its 41 in the first half and so finally run out winners by 109:81.