s.Oliver Würzburg also wins the second leg in the FIBA Europe Cup semi-final against Pallacanestro Varese

The dream of the European title lives on: s.Oliver Würzburg also ran out winners in the second leg of its FIBA Europe Cup semi-final against the ten-times Italian champions Pallacanestro Varese, this time by 89:86 (42:36), in front of 2,313 spectators in the s.Oliver Arena on Wednesday.

“We showed right away in the first period that we were the better team and wanted to advance to the final,” said Head Coach Denis Wucherer afterwards: “We’re happy with how the team played in the first and third quarters. That was enough today to lay the foundation for victory.” With a 23-point lead behind it from the first leg, the home side put Varese under pressure from the outset with aggressive defending and chalked up a high 3-point field goal percentage: Five shots from downtown hit their mark in the first period, including two in a row from American Devin Oliver in the 3rd minute to spark a 10:0 run that helped his side surge 14:4 in front.

The visitors also repeatedly tried shots from beyond the arc, but only drained one out of 14 attempts in the first half – when captain Giancarlo Ferrero made the score 14:7 in the 5th minute. Wucherer’s players continued to turn in a flowing display after that, hardly conceded any points and stretched their lead to 30:11 by the end of the first period – a comfortable 42-point cushion on aggregate. That did not change to begin with at the start of the second quarter (36:17 in the 13th minute), but then the visitors from Northern Italy got into the game better and were able to reduce the deficit slightly to 46:32 by half-time.

After the break, the home side – with the security of its large lead – let its grip slacken a little in defense in some spells, but had the right reply in offense to every action and every small run by Pallacanestro Varese. After narrowly taking the third period by 29:27, Würzburg still led by 16 points (75:59) and so by 39 on aggregate – the semi-final was already decided going into the final ten minutes. “That meant we were able to rest a number of players and play with a longer rotation,” said Wucherer: “In the end, we narrowly won against a team that gave its all and against a coach who tried everything. But I never felt at any time that we wouldn’t advance to the final.”

Varese never gave up, stepped up its intensity in defense and fought its way back into the encounter, above all thanks to a strong performance by Thomas Scrubb (29 points). Ronald Moore drained a shot from outside to make it 82:83 in the 37th minute, after which Jordan Hulls was able to snatch the lead back for the last time for his side with four free throws out of five attempts and seal a narrow victory for s.Oliver Würzburg.

Denis Wucherer commented:

“Mission accomplished. We’re delighted to have made it to the final. We’re also happy with how we played in the first and third quarters. That was enough today to lay the foundation for victory and, with the lead from the first leg behind us, to give a number of players a rest and play with a longer rotation. In the end, we narrowly won against a team that gave its all and against a coach who tried everything. But I never felt at any time today that we wouldn’t advance to the final. A European final is pretty much new territory for me as a coach, most of the players and also our organization. If the semi-final was the dress rehearsal, then I’m looking forward to the opening night when it gets serious against Sassari. We’ll do all we can to represent our club as best possible and win the FIBA Europe Cup. Sassari has a good team with a lot of quality and an extremely deep bench. That’ll be a really mammoth task. A lot will depend on how we fare there in the first leg and whether we then have a chance in the second leg – with our fantastic fans behind us – to keep the cup here in Würzburg. We’ve already disposed of a lot of quality teams in the playoffs and now a really tough nut is awaiting us. The team’s ready and looking forward to it. And I feel sure our fans will also be ready in the second leg and the arena will be packed full.”

source: https://www.soliver-wuerzburg.de