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Berlin

s.Oliver Würzburg loses on the road at ALBA Berlin

Berlin, 04-01-2018

Despite a good German league debut by new signing Kameron Taylor and a strong performance over 36 minutes, s.Oliver Würzburg lost by 76:80 away to ALBA Berlin on the 27th matchday of the easyCredit German Basketball League. The second-placed team produced a run of 13 points without reply in the encounter’s last four minutes to capture a home victory and pull level on wins with top-of-the-table FC Bayern Munich. The game’s top scorers with 16 points apiece were Kameron Taylor and Maurice Stuckey for Würzburg and Marius Grigonis and Luke Sikma for Berlin.

For a long time it looked as if the club from Lower Franconia might end the 12-game winning streak of its opponents from Germany’s capital and chalk up its third win in the Mercedes-Benz Arena. Although Berlin started at a lightning pace and had scored ten points after just two-and-a-half minutes, the visitors then got a grip of the game more and more thanks to their intensive defending and good rebounding. Among others, E.J. Singler and Kameron Taylor hit back with five points each after Berlin had taken an early 10:4 lead. Taylor finished his very first action in offense for his new club with a slam-dunk. After a bucket from beyond the arc by Singler and two free throws from Abdul Gaddy, the 23-year-old new signing tied the scores at 18:18 in the 10th minute with a lay-up and bonus free throw.

Würzburg went ahead for the first time by producing an 11:0 run at the start of the second period (22:29) – a lead it was not only able to defend, but even stretch. The visitors benefited here from Berlin’s weak shooting percentage from outside. The team with the league’s best 3-point field goal percentage drained just three buckets from downtown in each half or a meager 22.2 percent of its attempts.

At least the visitors were far better in that department before the break – for example the former Berlin player Clifford Hammonds, who gave Würzburg its first double-digit lead with a three-pointer in the 16th minute (25:35). Or Felix Hoffmann, who found himself completely free, took aim from beyond the arc and drained a buzzer-beating three on the final move of the second quarter to make the score 39:47 at half-time.

After the break, Würzburg again always had the right answer to every successful action by Berlin for a long time and so the gap never fell below seven points in the third period – on the contrary: After what was adjudged to be an unsporting foul by Luke Sikma, the club from Lower Franconia was able to extend its lead to 51:64 with two free throws by Hoffmann and a lay-up by Owen Klassen. The Albatrosses reduced the deficit to 53:64 before the end of the third quarter and began the final one with a three by Tim Schneider to make it 56:64.

Abdul Gaddy responded in kind (56:67), then Berlin’s two top scorers Marius Grigonis and Luke Sikma notched up eleven points, while Würzburg only added a lay-up through Stuckey. Yet even in this critical situation, the players of s.Oliver Würzburg kept their cool, with Gaddy draining a shot from downtown, Stuckey adding free throws and Hammonds scoring a lay-up. The visitors were again nine points in front with four minutes remaining.

Of all people, it was the former Würzburg player Joshiko Saibou who turned the game around. He scored eight points in a row to spark a run of 13 points without reply by the home side in crunch time to decide the encounter. Saibou first reduced the gap to 75:76 single-handedly, then it was Luke Sikma who finished an alley-oop pass from Peyton Siva – the second and final time the lead changed hands. Not a single Würzburg shot hit its mark in the final four minutes and so it was Marius Grigonis who sealed victory with a bucket from outside that made it 80:76 with 56.5 seconds left.