medi bayreuth loses to Würzburg Baskets with 83:99

After a first half that was good for long stretches, medi bayreuth clearly lost the Franconian derby against the Würzburg Baskets. In front of 3,008 spectators in the Oberfrankenhalle, the Bayreuth team, which had to do without team captain Bastian Doreth due to muscular problems, lost 83:99 to the Lower Franconians on Sunday afternoon.

It seemed almost as if one wanted to convert the New Year resolutions, in form of a convincing achievement, directly with the first play of the yearly, because the team, approximately around the hurt captain Bastian Doreth, came aggressively into the play and could go equal by the first throw attempt of Jackson Rowe with 3:2 in front. The lead changed twice shortly after, but medi did not let it go until the end of the first half. Through intensive defense, often by doubling, they forced the Unterfranken to make mistakes, acted cleverly in attack and with 11:4 rebounds also grabbed significantly more rebounds than the Würzburg team.

In the second quarter, medi also managed to carry over the good performance from the first ten minutes for long stretches. As a team, they scored point after point and made life difficult for the guests. When Kresimir Nikic made the lead double-digit again after 15 minutes, it became really loud in the Oberfrankenhalle and the fans believed in the derby victory for the first time.

The medi players looked for a moment as if the plug had been pulled on them and it took them a while to recover from this moment of shock of losing the lead. Cameron Hunt & Co. pulled away up to 72:64 and used this phase ice-cold. It was Kay Bruhnke who finally interrupted the 12:0 run of the Lower Franconians with a successful three-point shot. Nevertheless, the momentum was now on the side of the guests and accordingly medi was 69:74 behind at the end of the third quarter.

The story of the last quarter is quickly told: While the ball was running like clockwork for the Würzburgers, the Bayreuthers had to fight for every little action. The Wuerzburgers extended their lead further, played the game confidently and cleverly to the end, forced medi to make many mistakes and finally deserved to win 99:83.

Lars Masell (Head Coach medi bayreuth):

"Congratulations to Würzburg and coach Filipovski. We fought, which you can see in the individual categories such as the 19 offensive rebounds. In stretches we took good care of the ball, we had only 11 turnovers, we were able to move the ball well, which is proven by our 23 assists, but in the end Würzburg scored excellently from the three-point line."

In exactly one week, it continues for medi bayreuth. Then Bastian Doreth & Co. will have to travel to Heidelberg, where they will face the MLP Academics Heidelberg, currently fifteenth in the standings, on January 15, at 3:00 p.m., on the 15th matchday of the easyCredit Basketball Bundesliga.