Würzburg loses to Gießen

After three away wins in a row, s.Oliver Würzburg suffered a defeat in the Sporthalle Ost in Gießen on the 11th game day of the easyCredit German Basketball League. “That was probably our worst display in defense so far. We didn’t come to terms with their offense the whole forty minutes,” said Head Coach Denis Wucherer after the 87:91 (45:41) loss at his old club. In particular, the club from Lower Franconia was rarely able to get a grip on the 46ers’ center John Bryant, who notched up the first triple-double of his German league career (19 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds). Würzburg’s top scorers were the two former Gießen players Cameron Wells (21 points) and Skyler Bowlin (17), as well as Johannes Richter, who finished with a haul of 16 and so just narrowly missed out on his career best.

“We have to be focused and do our job,” demanded Wucherer going into the encounter. His players managed to do that pretty well in the first half, but then the home side seized the advantage with a strong start to the third period and s.Oliver Würzburg was no longer able to catch up. The seventh-in-the-table team began with a trio of guards: Joshua Obiesie lined up with Cameron Wells, Skyler Bowlin, Victor Rudd and Luke Fischer in the starting five for the first time. Together with the former 46er player Wells, who drained his first three shots, the youngster helped put Würzburg’s first 11 points on the board and give it a five-point lead (6:11 in the 4th minute). The visitors were not able to stretch that gap because the home side improved its shooting percentage from midway through the first period on and put up stiff resistance, among other things with buckets from downtown by John Bryant and Matthew Tiby.

The run of play was similar in the second period: In particular, Würzburg set up Johannes Richter excellently in this spell and so was able to extend its lead several times to six or seven points (25:32 in the 13th minute), but the club from Central Hesse always found an answer right away and kept in contention. After Joshua Obiesie twice passed to Johannes Richter to make slam-dunks shortly before the break and then himself made it 39:45 with a lay-up, the 46ers’ playmaker Stephen Brown reduced the deficit to 41:45 at half-time as the clock ran down.

His lay-up on the buzzer sparked a 19:4 run by the home side straddling the periods, as Gießen got off to the far better start in the third period and repeatedly found their sharpshooters at the arc in the opening minutes after the break. Brandon Thomas, Stephen Brown, John Bryant, Matthew Tiby and Brandon Thomas again drained five threes to force Denis Wucherer to call a timeout in the 24th minute with the score at 58:49. His team then fought its way back to 59:57 thanks to several defensive stops and four successful actions in offense. After this 8:1 run, however, it was once again John Bryant who regained the momentum for the home side with a bucket from outside to make it 62:57. It was also the 3-point field goal percentage after the break that, statistically speaking, made the difference in the end: Whereas the 46ers scored eight out of 16 from downtown in the third and fourth periods, s.Oliver Würzburg’s six attempts all missed the mark. In particular, Gießen had Jordan Hulls under extremely tight control almost all the time: The “Sniper from Indiana” took just two threes and scored five of his seven points from the foul line.

Both teams went into the final quarter with the score standing at 66:61 – and it was Gießen who continued to move the ball well and kept on finishing its attacks successfully. Although the club from Lower Franconia refused to be shaken off and always stayed within striking distance, Wucherer’s players failed to produce enough stops in defense to be able to turn the game around. Teyvon Myers sealed victory with a midrange shot to make it 87:80 with just under 90 seconds remaining. After that, the home side did not show any weakness from the foul line and so ran out deserved winners.

s.Oliver Würzburg now has the weekend off (due to the cup matches) and next faces Crailsheim at home on December 20, the first of three “Winter S(n)OW games” over Christmas and the New Year and, sandwiched between them, an encounter on the road in Vechta on December 27. The highlight of the string of home games over the festive period is the Après Ski matchday, when it meets Bonn on December 29. It then kicks off the New Year by welcoming Braunschweig to the s.Oliver Arena on January 3, 2020.

www.soliver-wuerzburg.de