s.Oliver Baskets without a hope in the Rhineland

Two winning runs came to an end for s.Oliver Baskets on the 6th matchday of the Beko German Basketball League. The 79:103 (32:51) loss on Sunday on the road at Telekom Baskets Bonn was not only their first defeat of the season, but also their first-ever in the Telekom Dome.

Seven of the first eight shots by Bonn landed in Würzburg’s basket after Dirk Mädrich had initiated a sparkling display of offensive basketball by the team from the Rhineland by stealing the ball and draining a bucket from beyond the arc. Bonn led 7:0 after 90 seconds and by 20:5 in the 7th minute on its way to a start-to-finish win. It was only then that Würzburg really got into the game and began to put up stiffer resistance. However, it was not able to reduce the deficit to less than seven points in the first half (27:20 in the 12th minute) because Bonn kept on scoring from all positions. In particular Dirk Mädrich and the former Würzburg player Jimmy McKinney, whose contract with Bonn was extended until the end of the season before the game, had a magnificent evening: They made a combined haul of 30 points and each scored from four out of five attempts from outside. It was also two threes by McKinney that helped the home side pull away to 42:23 midway through the second period – a 19-point lead that held until half-time (51:32).

After the break, things also went better for s.Oliver Baskets in attack, where they scored a quick 18 points in the first five minutes of the third quarter. But to no avail: the home side maintained its high shooting percentage and, like the top team it is, always came up with the right answer to Würzburg’s effort in offense in every situation. After Cameron Long and Maurice Stuckey cut the deficit to 53:40 in the 22nd minute with two threes, hope was briefly rekindled among the around 200 Würzburg fans who had made the journey. Yet this glimmer of hope was immediately extinguished by Jimmy McKinney with his fourth bucket from outside plus a bonus free throw.

At the end of the third period, Telekom Baskets had taken a lead of more than 20 points for the first time (75:54) and they then sealed the game with their first two attacks in the final quarter to make it 80:54. The game ended as it had begun: with a three by Dirk Mädrich to make the final score 103:79.

The newly promoted club now face a Franconian derby against medi bayreuth in the s.Oliver Arena this weekend. The game has been brought forward from Sunday to Saturday and tips off at 6:30 p.m.

Doug Spradley, Head Coach of s.Oliver Baskets, commented: “Telekom Baskets showed us today how basketball should be played. We were well-prepared for them, but unfortunately didn’t have the intensity and desire required to win the game.”