medi Bayreuth wins thanks to season’s best performance by Robertson

After its win on the 24th game day of the easyCredit German Basketball League, medi Bayreuth managed to reclaim a playoff berth, at least for one night. In front of 2,456 spectators in the Sparkassen Arena in Jena, the HEROES OF TOMORROW defeated Science City by 96:89 (45:47) to climb to eighth in the table.

medi Bayreuth began the encounter at Science City Jena with an unchanged formation. Unlike in the previous game between the two clubs just over a fortnight previously, the HEROES OF TOMORROW were not caught napping at the start this time. Jena was able to take a narrow lead, but medi did not let the home side pull away. On the contrary: the HEROES OF TOMORROW themselves scored four points to go ahead thanks to the in-form German international center Andreas Seiferth. All in all, the first period was very evenly balanced and so neither side was initially able to carve out any decisive advantage. The first quarter ended with Jena ahead by the narrow margin of 23:22.

The evenly poised game continued in the second ten minutes. The club from Thuringia was usually slightly in front and had the dominant players in its ranks in the shape of Ronald Roberts and Dru Joyce. It was mainly Kassius Robertson and again Andreas Seiferth who put up tough resistance in offense for Bayreuth. Science City Jena had its strength below the boards to thank for the fact that it was also able to hold on to a narrow 47:45 lead at half-time, dominating the rebounding statistics by 18:11.

The team of Head Coach Björn Harmsengot enjoyed the far better start after the break, producing a run of seven points without reply to chalk up its largest lead. Yet medi struck back right away and tied the scores midway through the period after a bucket from outside by Kyan Anderson. The HEROES OF TOMORROW even went back ahead shortly afterwards. Helped by a technical foul against Jena’s bench, Kassius Robertson recaptured the lead for his side with a free throw. medi now showed more tenacity, especially in defense, and so was able to stretch the gap to 77:71 by the end of the period.

Jena again tried all in its might in the final quarter to avert the impending home defeat. Ronald Roberts and Dru Joyce were now ably supported by Martynas Mazeika. Yet all that was of no avail against the man who was by far the best on court: Kassius Robertson. Whatever the home side tried, Kassius Robertson always had the better answer. And just about everything came off for him in offense. He finished with an outstanding 39 points (11/16 from the floor, 8/12 threes, 9/10 free throws, as well as 5 assists, 3 rebounds and 2 steals, to give an efficiency of 40). In view of that, the clear superiority the home side enjoyed in the rebounding department was no longer of any importance. As a result, medi Bayreuth, roared on vociferously by its many fans, decided this game on the road in its favor by 96:89.