s.Oliver Würzburg wins at newly promoted HAKRO Merlins Crailsheim by 87:69

s.Oliver Würzburg has chalked up its second win on the road in succession: On the 17th matchday of the easyCredit German Basketball League, the club from Lower Franconia defeated newly promoted HAKRO Merlins Crailsheim by 87:69 (48:37). The team of Head Coach Denis Wucherer laid the foundation for this commanding away victory with a magnificent first period in the Arena Hohenlohe

s.Oliver Würzburg had to wait until the third minute to take the lead for the first time: Felix Hoffmann drained a bucket from downtown to put his side 3:5 in front and spark a short three-point shootout that ended with the visitors narrowly ahead. The first of four threes by Skyler Bowlin to make it 9:11 in the fourth minute was already the fifth time that the lead had changed hands. And also the last: “We laid the foundation for victory in the first period. We defended sensibly and so were able to switch quickly to attack,” said Denis Wucherer afterwards. Whereas the home side’s sharpshooting initially fizzled out after three buckets from outside in the opening spell, Würzburg managed to score well – and not just from beyond the arc. Center Gabriel Olaseni came on for the first time in the fifth minute and scored 11 out of his total haul of 13 points in the next around four minutes – without missing a single shot – and so helped produce a run of 13 points without reply to enable Würzburg to take its first double-digit lead in the seventh minute (9:21). The first period ended with the visitors ahead by the clear margin of 14:28.

Gabriel Olaseni and Johannes Richter were able to stretch the lead to 18 points at the start of the second quarter (14:32). Buoyed by their two wins in Frankfurt and against Braunschweig, the Merlins then succeeded in disrupting s.Oliver Würzburg’s rhythm in offense and sparked a comeback thanks to a number of steals. Only Cameron Wells put up stiff resistance for Würzburg in this spell by adding seven points. Crailsheim had reduced the deficit to 34:39 in the 18th minute, but then Florian Koch, Jordan Hulls and Skyler Bowlin brought the first half to a close with three three-pointers in a row, as the two teams went in with the score at 37:48.

After the break, Würzburg produced a strong spell with focused defending and finally put a stop to any efforts by the home side to fight back. A free throw by center Philipp Neumann was the only point Crailsheim managed to score in the first six minutes of the third period. The 21:1 run straddling the first and second halves made it 38:63 in the 26th minute and enabled the visitors to chalk up their highest lead (25 points). Konrad Wysocki ended the Merlins’ drought and added three buckets from outside before the end of the third quarter to reduce the gap to 15 points almost single-handedly (53:68).

However, Würzburg stepped up a gear again in the final quarter and pulled 58:78 ahead by the 35th minute. Yet the Merlins did not give up and closed the gap to 69:80 in the 39th minute. However, Cameron Wells, Skyler Bowlin and Jordan Hull added the last seven points of the encounter to seal what was all in all a commanding 87:69 win.