Würzburg defeats Mitteldeutscher BC

s.Oliver Würzburg got back to winning ways on the 16th matchday of the easyCredit German Basketball League with a commanding 97:84 (46:45) victory on the road at Mitteldeutscher BC in front of 2,200 spectators in the Stadthalle Weißenfels. After an evenly matched first half, the club from Lower Franconia captured a comfortable double-digit cushion thanks to a strong third period and held onto that lead for the rest of the encounter.

Würzburg got off to a good start and was 4:8 ahead after three minutes. The visitors defended their narrow lead until shortly before the end of the first period thanks to many successful moves and good shooting percentages. In defense, however, they were not able to gain a sufficient grip over their opponents before the break and so the home side was able to match them in offense, with the result that it went 25:24 ahead in the 9th minute thanks to the second three-pointer by the strong Hans Brase. Youngster Joshua Obiesie struck back with a bucket from downtown just before the shot clock ran down to bring the first quarter to end with the score at 25:27.

The “Wolves” had their strongest spell of the game at the start of the second period, producing a run of seven points without reply to make it 32:27 and forcing Head Coach Denis Wucherer to call a timeout after just 79 seconds. Würzburg was more focused after that and produced a 7:0 run of its own to move 38:42 in front in the 17th minute. The lead would change hands four times up to the break – for the last time when Cameron Wells added a lay-up to make the half-time score 45:46.

Unlike a week ago in Vechta, s.Oliver Würzburg came back out full of focus and with the necessary energy after the break. “We had the requisite intensity in our game over large spells today. That also paid off in the second half,” said Wucherer afterwards. The third period began with buckets from beyond the arc by Felix Hoffmann for the visitors and Hans Brase for the home side, after which Cameron Wells found Mike Morrison at the board twice and then himself drained a mid-range shot – forcing the MBC’s Head Coach Aleksandar Scepanovic to call a timeout with the score at 48:55 in the 24th minute.

The Wolves then put up sturdier resistance and reduced the deficit to 56:59 in the 26th minute. However, Würzburg subsequently tightened up its defense again and carved out a decisive 60:72 lead up to the end of the third quarter, among other things thanks to threes by Florian Koch and Jordan Hulls.

The home side was able cut the gap to eight points twice at the start of the fourth period (64:76 in the 33rd minute), but that was as close as it was to come: Johannes Richter and Xavier Cooks were unstoppable in this phase, chalked up the first fourteen points for their side in the final quarter and so put s.Oliver Würzburg 20 points ahead (68:88 in the 37th minute) and so finally on the road to victory. The Wolves were able to put a better complexion on the score with four buckets from outside in the last three minutes, but were no longer able to jeopardize Würzburg’s deserved double-digit win on the road.