s.Oliver Würzburg defeats Telekom Baskets to chalk up its fourth win in a row

s.Oliver Würzburg continues to play at full tilt in the final spurt for a playoff spot. The club from Lower Franconia captured its fourth straight victory in its home game against Telekom Baskets Bonn on Sunday evening. After a thrilling game that would have graced a playoff, the team of Head Coach Dirk Bauermann defeated the club from the Rhineland by 80:78 and is still ninth in the table, just two points behind Frankfurt. The game’s top scorer was Owen Klassen with 23 points; Robin Benzing, returning from a four-week forced break due to injury, made the deciding free throws with 22.3 seconds remaining on the clock.

From the tip-off at 8:15 on Sunday evening, the 3,012 spectators in the s.Oliver Arena saw a top-class and tight encounter which justly deserved the epithet “thriller” – like, by the way, the game between the two clubs in Bonn earlier in the season. It was obvious from the intensity the two opposing sides displayed from the very first second that quite a bit was at stake for them. Würzburg needed a home victory to maintain its chances of a playoff spot, whereas Bonn had the chance to already seal qualification for the post season with a win on the road.

Whereas the visitors’ shooters were in accurate form at the start of the game and scored nine of their first 12 points with three buckets from beyond the arc, it was in particular Owen Klassen who put up stout resistance in offense. The Canadian chalked up 19 of his 23 points in the first half and nine of them in the first five minutes to help make it 14:14. Because Telekom Baskets then scored two more threes up to the end of the first period, whereas Würzburg’s Abdul Gaddy and Leon Kratzer added two slam-dunks, the visitors led by five points after the quarter.

Bonn also initially had a better grip on the game at the start of the second period. Würzburg only scored once – through Dejan Kovacevic – from the floor in almost six minutes at the beginning of the quarter, with the result that the visitors were able to open up a double-digit gap by the 15th minute. However, Maurice Stuckey and Owen Klassen then sparked a 15:5 run with four successful free throws to get the club from Lower Franconia back into the game quickly. The teams changed ends with Würzburg trailing by 39:41.

After the break, the visitors were able to control Owen Klassen much better, but another player then stepped up to the plate and found his shooting rhythm. Maurice Stuckey drained his first three of the game from eight meters out to make it 44:44 and then added another bucket from downtown a short time later. Indeed, the home side chalked up a far better shooting percentage from outside in the second half: 50 percent compared to 20 before the break. E.J. Singler and Moe Stuckey each scored their third three shortly before the end of the third period to give Würzburg its highest lead of the encounter: 61:52 in the 30th minute.

Bonn then turned on the screws again, producing a 12:3 run to equalize. That was the prelude to an extremely exciting final spell: The home side first pulled away with the next three by Singler (73:69), then Josh Mayo reduced Bonn’s deficit to 75:74, likewise with a shot from outside. The home side notched up the deciding points from the foul line in the final 74 seconds. Whereas Julian Gamble and Yorman Polas Bartolo only made one out of four free throws for Bonn in crunch time, Würzburg’s Maurice Stuckey and Robin Benzing scored four out of four. The captain of Germany’s national team sealed the encounter by making it 79:74 with 22 seconds remaining. “We played really good basketball today against a top team. Now we’re looking forward to the next game in Ludwigsburg on Friday,” said Dirk Bauermann.