Telekom Baskets No chance for the Baskets against Ulm

Bonn · The Bonn Bundesliga basketball team loses 69:87 and are pushed to their limits in both attack and defence.

Applause still rang out for the Te­le­kom Bas­kets in Bonn yesterday, despite their bad game. The Baskets had no chance against league champions ra­tio­pharm Ulm who are yet to be beaten, losing 69:87 (19:24, 11:28, 20:20, 19:15) and sliding back down to sixth place behind Ber­lin in the bas­ket­ball Bun­des­li­ga. When the final buzzer sounded, commentator Frank Pi­on­tek put it in a nutshell. “That was a statement” he commented, as he said goodbye to the Ulm players – a fair and correct assessment of the game.

The 5830 spectators in the Te­le­kom Do­me held on to their hopes for all of ten minutes, that their team may have a real chance against the favourites. Thanks above all to Ry­an Thom­pson, Bonn were in the lead with scores of 5:2, 9:6 and 11:9 and Ken Hor­ton scored a hat-trick, taking the team to 14:9. Trainer Kru­nic positioned his team up well against its opponent, at any rate the Ulm attacking machine seemed at first to be suffering from a mental block.

But that certainly changed! At 16:15 the home boys were enjoying their last lead and then Ulm’s top sco­rer Ray­mar Mor­gan scored a hat-trick (19 points) to bring the game firmly over to the side of the away team. The southern Germans scored hat-trick after hat-trick, proving they were in a class of own. Mor­gan provided the best example. He pushed out against Bonn centre player Ju­li­an Gam­ble who proved no match for him in terms of athleticism and speed. A hat-trick by Chris Babb brought the score to 19:24 at the end of the first quarter and showed the strength of last season’s runner-up team. Dogged defender Yor­man Po­las Bart­olo stuck to Babb like a limpet, but he still got through.

After the game, Kru­nic criticised his team for not bringing “enough intensity” to the court to make an impression on the Ulm team. “Perhaps the fact that we have just played a physically and mentally tiring game in the the Fi­ba Eu­ro­pe Cup played a role” said the coach. Last Wednesday, the Bonn Baskets beat Iro­ni Na­ha­ria 89:68.

A further problem was that, apart from Thompson, there was little attack in the game against Ulm. “Our defence was getting better and better and then we hardly let anything through” acknowledged ra­tio­pharm trai­ner Thors­ten Lei­be­nath. While his team was beaming with an alarming hit rate, the Bonn shots were unsuccessful. To make matters worse, the Baskets, in their over-eagerness, managed to lose the ball several times unnecessarily, which Ulm were able to cold-bloodily turn into points through fast breaks.

As the score difference reached double figures, the helplessness amongst the home team could be seen. And as their trust in the game waivered, their team configuration also suffered – at the front as well as at the back. The score at the break was 30:52 and victory was no longer in sight for the Baskets.

In the next quarter, the opposing side pulled out all the stops and won points at will. With the score at 34:62, the home team were lagging behind by 28 points. Until Bonn’s top­ sco­rer Thom­pson (20 points) reached double figures in the last quarter, only the tireless fighter Bart­olo had reached a high score (14). In contrast, three players on the away team besides Mor­gan reached double figures: Babb (17), Au­gust­ine Ru­bit (16) and Bray­don Hobbs (12).

But the Baskets never gave up. They fought against every defeat and at around five minutes before the end of the game they had reduced the score difference to 16 points (63:79) and then to 14 : 69:83 (38.). Applause rang out for the Bonn team and even the fans recognised that the Baskets were up against the team who is the main contender for the title, along with Bamberg.

Bas­kets Co­ach Kru­nic was pleased at how his players rallied themselves after the break. “We fought well, but it was difficult to make a comeback against this strong team. The best team won today”, said the 49 year old. He was able to play Fi­lip Bar­ovic again for the first time following a thumb injury which meant the centre player had missed seven weeks. As only six foreigners are allowed on the team sheet, Ja­marr Sand­ers had to watch from the stands.

This victory by Ulm has broken the record set by Bay­er Le­ver­ku­sen who remained unbeaten for 25 games in 1969/1970. “I wasn’t even thinking about that today” said Ul­m player Kars­ten Tad­da. “It is the icing on the cake which you notice in passing but you won’t really get anything for it.”

The next game for the Bonn team is on Wednesday – the decisive return match in the quarter final of the Fi­ba Eu­ro­pe Cups in Na­ha­ria. And on Saturday, the next Bun­des­li­ga game will be against Bre­mer­ha­ven.

(Original text: Ge­rhard Mer­tens. Translation: Caroline Payne)

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