s.Oliver Würzburg romps to a 104:91 win over Pinar Karsiyaka

After the fifth matchday in the second group phase of the FIBA Europe Cup (FEC), only one team remains unbeaten: s.Oliver Würzburg, who celebrated a commanding 104:91 victory against Pinar Karsiyaka in front of just over 1,300 spectators in the s.Oliver Arena on Wednesday. The team of Head Coach Denis Wucherer had already built a double-digit lead in the first twenty minutes and then played out the game with great aplomb played to capture its first-ever home win against a Turkish club.

The crowd saw an evenly poised encounter in the first period, in which the visitors initially had the better haul in offense after s.Oliver Würzburg had gone 6:2 ahead in the 2nd minute. Sek Henry drained two buckets from outside in the first five minutes and so played a large part in putting his side 8:16 ahead.

That was also the largest lead the visitors would have. Jordan Hulls, Florian Koch, Brad Lösing and Gabriel Olaseni were then the protagonists in Würzburg’s comeback, which saw the home side reduce the deficit to 27:29 by the end of the first period. “We got off to a poor start, but then kept on finding the right response,” said Koch afterwards. Hulls buried a jump shot with the first action of the second quarter to tie the scores at 29:29, and the encounter was still completely up for grabs three minutes later (36:36 in the 14th minute).

But that would not stay that way: Joshua Obiesie with a slam-dunk after a pass by Gabe Olaseni and two lay-ups by Xavier Cooks put the home side 42:36 in front and on the road to victory early on. s.Oliver Würzburg piled on the pressure with a run of nine points without reply between the 17th and 19th minutes, and two free throws by Johannes Richter notched up its first double-digit lead (51:41).

The gap at the break was 12 points (56:44), and even in the second half the visitors rarely found a means of thwarting the attacks by the club from Lower Franconia, with the result that the lead grew slowly but surely. The third period ended 81:62: The largest lead of the encounter – 19 points – also meant the game was as good as over.

Würzburg’s prime objective in the remainder of the game was to conserve energy and not let Pinar Karsiyaka get within striking distance – and it also achieved that. It was left to youngster Philipp Hadenfeldt to break the 100-point mark with a completely open three shortly before the end and become the final player of the ten used to get on the scoresheet.

s.Oliver Würzburg now travel to GIESSEN 46ers for a game in the easyCredit German Basketball League on Sunday (tip-off: 6 p.m.). It then brings the group stage in the FIBA Europe Cup to a close with an away game against Szolnoki Olaj in Hungary this Wednesday. The eight games in the Round of 16, which are to be played on March 6 and 13, will then be drawn a day later at FIBA’s headquarters in Munich. If Würzburg reaches the quarter-final of the FEC (on March 20 and 27), a new date will have to be found for its German league game at home against FC Bayern Munich scheduled for March 26.