s.Oliver Würzburg suffers 65:75 defeat against Vechta

s.Oliver Würzburg was also unable to break the winning streak of the season’s surprise team, newly promoted Vechta, losing by 65:75 (29:35) in the sold-out RASTA Dome on the 15th matchday of the easyCredit German Basketball League.

Things went well for the visitors in the first period: Although the home side went 6:2 ahead in the 2nd minute, the club from Lower Franconia then produced a 13:4 run, during which Mike Morrison, Perry Ellis and Johannes Richter repeatedly scored from directly under the board and also drained their free throws. The result was a five-point lead (10:15) after just over eight minutes, which the “Rasta Men” were able to cut to two by the end of the first period (14:16).

In the second quarter, Vechta’s top scorer Austin Hollins got on the scoresheet for the first time, tying the encounter at 18:18 in the 12th minute and then adding his first bucket from outside two minutes later to put the home side 24:21 in front. Perry Ellis was able to equalize on the next attack, likewise with a three, but then the home side produced its next small run to pull ahead again by 30:24 in the 17th minute. The gap was still six points at half-time (35:29), also because Würzburg repeatedly missed good chances to score.

“We played without tenacity and passion for too long in the third period. If you do that, you don’t stand a chance against a team like Vechta,” said Denis Wucherer afterwards. The Head Coach was mainly alluding to the first five minutes of the second half, in which his team was not able to add a single point apart from a free throw by Morrison. “We should simply have been better after the break and played with more aggression in offense,” stressed Cameron Wells, too.

Austin Hollins was able to exploit s.Oliver Würzburg’s weak spell in offense by draining three successive buckets from downtown between the 23rd and 25th minutes to put his team 44:30 in front and on the road to victory. Although Würzburg put up stiffer resistance from midway through the third quarter on, it was not able to cut the gap further by its end.

At the start of the final period, Chris Carter made another three to give Vechta its highest lead (59:40). Yet s.Oliver Würzburg did not give up and was able to reduce the deficit to single digits with two buckets from beyond the arc by Jordan Hulls (70:61 in the 40th minute). However, the comeback was too late to prevent the home side from capturing its fourth straight win.