s.Oliver Würzburg defeats Science City Jena by 80:65

s.Oliver Würzburg has captured its third win in a row, defeating Science City Jena, the team just below it in the table by 80:65 (30:32), in the s.Oliver Arena on the 11th matchday of the easyCredit German Basketball League after dominating the second half. The home side captured a decisive lead with a 14:3 run at the start of the third period and then commandingly played out the game to capture its second home win of the season.

The encounter was evenly poised, characterized by intense defending and so pretty low-scoring in the first two quarters. A bucket from downtown by Jordan Hulls in the eighth minute gave Würzburg its highest lead in the course of the whole first half (15:12). The lead changed a total of five times in the first period. It was the visitors who were slightly more accurate in their shooting in the second period, but they were never able to pull away by more than four points. Würzburg went in at half-time trailing by 30:32.

In the third period, the visitors did not manage much in offense to begin with apart from a three by Jamar Abrams. Würzburg was thus able to produce a 14:3 run to pull 44:35 ahead in the 26th minute – the eighth and last time the lead would change hands. The club from Lower Franconia was then able to extend the gap to 14 points in the 28th minute. However, the visitors struck back with two successive buckets from outside by Julius Jenkins. Head Coach Denis Wucherer called a timeout and so nipped Jena’s incipient comeback in the bud. On the next three attacks, the visitors were only able to stop Gabriel Olaseni by fouling him and the center drained five of his six free throws to make it 56:45 at the end of the third period.

In the final period, it was also mainly Julius Jenkins who made a mark in offense for Jena – but that was not enough to pose any threat to Würzburg’s victory. The home side continued to move the ball well and its shooting percentage remained high. The trio of Florian Koch, Jordan Hulls and Xavier Cooks added 24 points in the last ten minutes to seal s.Oliver Würzburg’s fourth win of the season in the German league.