medi Bayreuth loses 90:97 at bottom-of-the-table Crailsheim

“We’ve not clicked at the back and in attack recently!” was how medi Head Coach Raoul Korner summed up his team’s performance on the road at HAKRO Merlins Crailsheim on Wednesday evening. His side succumbed 90:97 (52:42) at the bottom-of-the-table club on the 21st game day of the easyCredit German Basketball League – its tenth defeat of the season.

Whereas the Merlins were able to halt their losing run in front of a crowd of 1,921 in the Arena Hohenlohe, it was now the sixth defeat in succession for medi Bayreuth. Yet Bastian Doreth and his team led for large spells of the encounter – by 11 points at one stage. But when DaWayne Russell put Crailsheim 83:82 ahead with a bucket from downtown and 3:38 minutes remaining, the game tilted the home side’s way. Two more threes by Konrad Wysocki sealed medi’s defeat and meant it has slipped to 11th in the table before the 16-day international break – which has come at exactly the right time.

On his return, Kyan Anderson was in the starting five for the first time in the away game at HAKRO Merlins Crailsheim on the 21st matchday of the easyCredit German Basketball League. Unlike in recent games, however, the HEROES OF TOMORROW got off to a perfect start, building a quick 8:0 lead after points by De’Mon Brooks and Kassius Robertson. Yet Crailsheim fought its way back into the game after a timeout and even went ahead midway through the first period. It was only toward the end of the first quarter that medi was able to open up a slight gap again and regain the lead (26:21).

Early in the second period, the HEROES OF TOMORROW managed to stretch that to 11 points, mainly thanks to a fine spell by Andreas Seiferth. However, the “Wizards from Hohenlohe” used all the means available to them and closed the deficit to three. After a timeout by Head Coach Raoul Korner, the team regained its stability, also thanks to a 4-point play by Kassius Robertson, and was able to pull 52:42 ahead by the break.

The home side then had the far better start to the second half. A run of seven points without reply brought it back within striking distance, but it was not able to go ahead. The HEROES OF TOMORROW managed to hold on to a narrow lead over the entire period, but were now lacked accuracy in their shooting and so only took a slight 66:64 advantage into the final quarter.

It initially seemed that medi Bayreuth had been able to carve out a decisive lead: Led by Gregor Hrovat, the HEROES OF TOMORROW stretched the gap to eight points. However, that was all turned on its head after a timeout by the Merlins’ Head Coach Tuomas Iisalo. Bayreuth was no longer able to get a grip on its opponents, especially in defense, with the result that Konrad Wysocki and Joseph Lawson led their team to a 97:90 home victory.

Source: www.medi-bayreuth.de