s.Oliver Würzburg wins 96:87 at Pinar Karsiyaka after overtime

s.Oliver Würzburg turned in a strong performance in Turkey: The team of Head Coach Denis Wucherer recovered from trailing by seven points in crunch time in its away game at Pinar Karsiyaka to win by 96:87 (42:37, 82:82) after overtime. The encounter’s top scorer was Jordan Hulls with 27 points, while Xavier Cooks chalked up a double-double (18 points and 16 rebounds), Cameron Wells made 12 assists and tied the scores at 82:82 with a lay-up with eight seconds of regular time remaining, and Skyler Bowlin – in his first game after being out for four weeks through injury – notched up nine points and eight assists in his almost 26 minutes on court.

Going into the game, Denis Wucherer had termed Pinar Karsiyaka “by far the team with the best players in the group” and set a minimum objective of putting up a better fight than five weeks ago in the 60:80 defeat in Sakarya. His team took that to heart and was a match for the home side from the tip-off. Wucherer was without Brad Lösing and Kresimir Loncar, both of whom count as foreign players in the FEC despite the fact they hold German passports, in the game by the Gulf of Izmir. The starting five of Skyler Bowlin, Cameron Wells, Xavier Cooks, Perry Ellis and Mike Morrison got into the game well and helped their side move 7:11 ahead after five minutes, thanks among other things to seven points by the “X-Man” from Australia

However, the Turkish club was not to be shaken off and so the scores were tied at the end of the first period (17:17). In the second quarter, it was then Jordan Hulls who repeatedly caused the home side big problems: Würzburg’s top scorer opened the period with two buckets from downtown and by the break had increased his haul to 15 points – thanks to five shots from beyond the arc that all hit their mark. As a result, s.Oliver Würzburg was able to carve out a 9-point lead at one stage, although it was reduced slightly just before half-time, and both sides went in with the score standing at 37:42.

The visitors also had everything under control in the first four minutes after the break (42:51 in the 24th minute), but then the home side produced a run of eight points without reply to make the game exciting again. s.Oliver Würzburg found the right answer initially and pulled 51:59 ahead again, but just before the end of the third period Sek Henry drained the first of a string of difficult three-pointers that enabled Pinar Karsiyaka to turn the game around. In the first four minutes of the final quarter, Erving Walker drained three straight buckets from downtown and Henry followed that up with two more threes to put the home side back in front again (73:66 in the 34th minute) for the first time since the opening period.

Yet s.Oliver Würzburg did not let itself become disconcerted, stepped up a gear in defense and fought its way back into the game. Florian Koch buried a bucket from outside to tie the scores at 75:75 in the 37th minute – and set the stage for an extremely thrilling finale. Karsiyaka was able to pull 81:78 ahead in crunch time, but then Perry Ellis got his team back to within one point with two free throws with 17 seconds remaining. Erving Walker made just one of his free throws at the other end, giving Cameron Wells the chance to drive to the basket and tie the scores at 82:82 with eight seconds left on the clock. A last attempted three by Sek Henry only hit the hoop – and so the game went into overtime.

The club from Upper Franconia was able to keep its intensity high and moved the ball well in overtime, whereas the home side’s strength gradually waned. A three-pointer by Skyler Bowlin to make it 84:89 put s.Oliver Würzburg definitively on the road to success after just two minutes of play in overtime. s.Oliver Würzburg’s fourth win in a row across all competitions means it is now the outright leader in FEC Group I and so has an excellent springboard for the four matchdays ahead of it in the new year.