s.Oliver Würzburg defeats BG Göttingen to capture its sixth straight win in the German league

s.Oliver Würzburg has set a new record: Never before has it won six straight games in one season in the easyCredit German Basketball League. Against pugnacious Violets from Göttingen, the team of Head Coach Denis Wucherer managed to win on Tuesday evening as a result of strong defending and an excellent 3-point field goal percentage, mainly thanks to Jordan Hulls: Würzburg’s top scorer drained eight of his 10 attempts from beyond the arc and finished with a haul of 26 points. The third and final episode in the “Red Week” continues on Thursday, when ratiopharm Ulm comes to the s.Oliver Arena for an encounter postponed from the 2nd game day (tip-off: 8:30 p.m.). Tickets in all categories are still available in the online ticket shop and at the ticket box on the evening.

It was even the 10th win in a row across all competitions. Plotting revenge for the narrow defeat in Göttingen earlier in the season, Denis Wucherer rotated his side again and left out Gabriel Olaseni, for whom Mike Morrison returned to the squad and the starting five. Just over 2,900 spectators in Würzburg’s cauldron saw a classic game of runs to begin with: The Violets scored seven points without reply, but s.Oliver Würzburg struck back with eight straight points, with Cameron Wells and Skyler Bowlin draining the first two buckets from downtown out of the home side’s total haul of 14 at the end.

The visitors bounced back through Dennis Kramer and Stephan Haukohl (8:12 in the 7th minute), but then the sniper from Indiana took control: Jordan Hulls drained an exceptional five three-pointers in the space of just over two minutes and so gave the home side a double-digit lead for the first time before the end of the first period (25:14 in the 9th minute). “Jordan and his threes were a big factor today. We lived off his first quarter until late in the game,” said Denis Wucherer.

The lead narrowly remained in the double digits at the start of the second quarter (31:21 in the 12th minute), then Göttingen’s strongest player Derek Willis and his teammate Mihajlo Andric likewise unfurled the three-pointers and quickly reduced the deficit to 34:33 in the 16th minute – also because the home side made life difficult for itself in the first 17 minutes of play with a very weak haul from the foul line (just 4 free throws out of 14 attempts or 28 percent).

Denis Wucherer: “Jordan Hulls was a big factor today.”

That changed in good time before the break, when the club from Lower Franconia produced a 9:0 run – comprising five free throws and two thunderous slam-dunks by Johannes Richter and Devin Oliver – to pull ahead again by 43:33. The first half ended with Würzburg 44:38 in front and after the break s.Oliver Würzburg went on to win its 10th victory of the season in the German league thanks to a combination of intensive defending and nicely carved-out chances.

Whenever the club from Lower Saxony threatened to reduce the gap significantly, the home side had a response – for example two minutes before the end of the third period, when Denis Wucherer called a timeout with the score at 61:55: Jordan Hulls drained his side’s seventh and eighth bucket from outside and Xavier Cooks added a slam-dunk. With eight minutes remaining, it was then Devin Oliver who likewise drained two threes – and victory was also sealed with a shot from beyond the arc, which Florian Koch drained in the 37th minute to make it 84:67. “Würzburg was simply the stronger team on the day. Its intensity was fantastic,” summed up Göttingen’s Head Coach Johan Roijakkers afterwards.