medi Bayreuth loses 68:86 to ALBA Berlin

Unfortunately, the HEROES OF TOMORROW ran out of steam after the first half of their game on the road at ALBA BERLIN on the 19th matchday of the easyCredit German Basketball League. The team of Head Coach Raoul Korner led 39:38 at half-time in front of 10,778 spectators in the Mercedes-Benz Arena, but then the Albatrosses pulled away after the break.

The HEROES OF TOMORROW got off to a very good start, finding the right mix in offense between driving to the basket and shooting from outside. In defense, they forced the Albatrosses to concede six turnovers and so built a seven-point lead shortly before the end of the period. However, two buckets from downtown by Rokas Giedraitis and Stefan Peno in the final 20 seconds as good as canceled out that advantage.

The HEROES OF TOMORROW continued to dictate play to begin with in the second quarter. Two minutes had elapsed when Kassius Robertson restored the seven-point lead with a three. Yet it seemed that medi fizzled out after that and nothing went right for it in attack in the following minutes. ALBA continuously reduced the deficit and finally even went ahead for the first time midway through the period. Even a serious injury to its last remaining regular point guard Stefan Peno was not able to stop Berlin. medi Bayreuth also lost a player through injury in this spell: De’Mon Brooks slipped unluckily when defending and was not able to continue. It was only after a 0:11 run and a timeout by Raoul Korner that Adonis Thomas was able to put his side on the scoreboard again. The HEROES OF TOMORROW were now able to rekindle their good form from the first ten minutes again and recaptured their one-point lead by the break.

In the second half, ALBA BERLIN was able to compensate for the loss of Stefan Peno far better than Bayreuth was able to do for De’Mon Brooks. Its feared defense was now more and more compact and made it more difficult for medi to create good chances to score. In addition, its offense now also found more opportunities to carve out good shots. Since Berlin also conceded far fewer turnovers and had slight advantages in rebounding, it pulled away point by point. Yet medi definitely had its chances to stay in the game, but the crucial shots simply did not want to drop. As a result, ALBA took the third period by 22:11 to go into the final quarter leading by ten points.

Berlin then stuck to its game plan uncompromisingly and soon made it clear that medi Bayreuth would not be taking the two points home with it. Thanks to variable play in attack and forceful defending, the home side did not let the HEROES OF TOMORROW back into the encounter. One reason for the Albatrosses’ superiority was also the depth of its squad: All twelve players had time on court and six of them notched up a double-digit haul. In the end, medi did not have the resources to withstand and lost in the capital by 68:86.

Source: www.medi-bayreuth.de