Würzburg wins dress rehearsal and exacts revenge

s.Oliver Würzburg’s dress rehearsal for the new season ended in success with victory in the Bosch Rexroth Cup at home two weeks before it starts the new season with a home game against Brose Bamberg. The team of Head Coach Denis Wucherer defeated Telekom Baskets Bonn by 95:79 in the final and so also secured a better aggregate between the two teams in their warm-up games (Bonn had run out winners by 76:71 in the final of the Gezeitenhaus Cup in Rhöndorf two weeks previously).

“We’re naturally delighted that our dress rehearsal went so well and we won the tournament. It was also obvious that the fans liked the way their side played,” said s.Oliver Würzburg’s Managing Director Steffen Liebler about the successful weekend. “There was an unprecedented crowd and a great mood in the arena on both days – and it was just a warm-up tournament. That shows the fans, like us, are really looking forward to the new season. We’re completely satisfied with how the weekend went.”

On Friday evening, at the official presentation of the team and in the semi-final against Basketball Lions Braunschweig, the newly assembled team of s.Oliver Würzburg excited the crowd in its first home appearance – especially in the second half. Scott Eatherton initially dominated the encounter before the break: The Lions’ center drained all his shots from the floor in the first half, scored 21 points and so was mainly responsible for the club from Lower Saxony taking an eight-point lead with it into the break.

Strong second half against Braunschweig

However, from the very first second of the second half, the hosts then showed that they were intent on advancing to the final: A 14:2 run in a little over the first five minutes of the third period gave them the lead for the first time after the break (48:47), which they then extended to twenty points at one stage. All ten Würzburg players managed to get on the score sheet in the end and six of them notched up a double-digit haul. Felix Hoffmann finished as Würzburg’s top scorer with 15 points in what was ultimately a clear 93:76 victory.

Successful revenge against Telekom Baskets Bonn

In the final on Saturday evening, s.Oliver Würzburg achieved its goal of exacting revenge for the defeat against Telekom Baskets Bonn at the Gezeitenhaus Cup in Rhöndorf two weeks before. It was the first time Würzburg had won its home tournament since 2013 – when the opposing side was likewise Bonn.

In a very intense game that was fiercely contested by both teams, the home side was able to open up a gap in the first period (23:17) and extend that lead slightly by half-time (44:37). Cameron Wells produced the most spectacular scene in the half, taking measure from the center line and draining a buzzer-beater that did not even touch the hoop.

Xavier Cooks and Gabriel Olaseni likewise helped create a good mood among the crowd with a number of spectacular slam-dunks. Captain Kresimir Loncar, who was back in action for the first time in the pre-season following his wrist injury, made three buckets from downtown and nine points in the final.

The third quarter as good as sealed the host’s commanding tournament win: Würzburg played really fluently in offense and stretched the gap to 75:58 by its end. After that, Head Coach Denis Wucherer’s players did not give their opponents a look-in and the lead never fell below nine points in the final period.

Denis Wucherer: “Our team has a great deal of quality in offense”

Six Würzburg players again got into double digits in the final, above all sharpshooter Florian Koch with 14 points and four buckets from outside. “The fact that we have so many players with a double-digit haul reflects the way we want to play. Our team has so much quality in offense that we can always score 90 points,” said Wucherer after the final. “We’ve taken another good step forward over yesterday’s semi-final. We still did plenty wrong, but we’ve two weeks’ time to iron out some things before the season opener against Bamberg.”