– David Hein
We almost saw a major upset but Petteri Koponen drained a three-pointer at the buzzer to give FC Bayern Munich a home victory over BG Göttingen. The week of action also gave us RASTA Vechta snapping MHP RIESEN Ludwigs-burg’s seven-game winning streak while Telekom Baskets Bonn won their first game after seven losses and Hamburg Towers ended their six-game losing skid.
In this section, we break out our English language skills and inform you about the latest news from the German easyCredit Basketball Bundesliga. If you’re short on time but still want your fill of Germany’s top basketball league then you are in the right place. Every week David Hein (www.heinnews.com) brings you up-to-date in German basketball – the easyCredit BBL short and sweet:
Koponen trey at buzzer saves Bayern from loss against Göttingen
Petteri Koponen nailed a three-pointer at the buzzer to save FC Bayern Munich from losing at home against BG Göttingen with an 82-81 win to remain undefeated. Göttingen led by as many as nine points in the third quarter and Bennet Hundt hit two free throws with 6 seconds left to give Göttingen an 81-79 lead. But Maodo Lo passed out to Koponen in the left corner and the Finnish sharp-shooter trained the three-pointer for an 11-0 record - with Göttingen dropping to 2-8. Bayern shot 63.0 percent for the game including an amazing 9-of-10 three-pointers. Greg Monroe paced Bayern with 22 points, Paul Zipser had 14 points and Lo collected 10 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists. Besides Monroe, Bayer’s other starters scored just 21 points. Hundt scored a team-high 19 points with 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals off bench while Mihaljo Andric scored 16 points and Dominic Lockhart added 14 points.
Vechta win at home to end Ludwigsburg run
RASTA Vechta got back to their winning ways with a 77-72 victory at home over MHP RIESEN Ludwigsburg, who saw their seven-game winning streak snapped. Ludwigsburg led by 13 points in the first quarter but trailed late in the second quarter and went 6 minutes without a basket in the fourth quarter, going from up six points to down six points as Vechta moved to 6-5 and Ludwigsburg fell to 9-2. Vechta made 24-of-26 free throws (92.3 percent) to make up for only 5-of-22 (22.7 percent) three-pointers, but the hosts won the rebound battle 46-34 and held Ludwigsburg to 33.3 percent shooting. Steve Vasturia paced Vechta with 17 points and 7 assists while Jordan Davis scored 17 points and Trevor Simpson had 15 points, 9 rebounds and 2 assists. Ludwigsburg had Nick Weiler-Babb pick up 17 points and 6 rebounds and Tanner Leissner scored 12 points.
Garcia leaves Vechta to head back to Spain
RASTA Vechta and Sergi Garcia have parted ways as the Spanish guard will be returning to his homeland and play for Baskonia. The 22-year-old Garcia notified the club in mid-November that he would like to return to Spain.
Hamburg snap losing streak with win in Braunschweig
Hamburg Towers snapped their six-game losing streak as the promoted team grabbed a 97-94 victory at Basketball Löwen Braunschweig. Hamburg led by 17 points early in the second quarter and nearly gave it all away in the period. They trailed in the fourth but pulled out their second win of the season to move to 2-8 while Braunschweig have dropped four straight to fall to 4-5. Hamburg shot 46.8 percent for the game but made 27-of-36 free throws (75.0 percent) while Braunschweig hit only 43.7 percent from the field and only 22-of-33 (66.7 percent) free throws. Yannick Franke tallied 28 points off the bench for Hamburg while Jorge Gutierrez had 19 points, 6 rebounds, 10 assists and 2 steals and Heiko Schaffartzik picked up 15 points including 4 three-pointers. Braunschweig’s leading scorer was Karim Jallow with 19 points while Scott Eatherton scored 18 points and Thomas Klepeisz and Trevor Releford both hit 16 points.
Braunschweig talent Lagerpusch moves to ProA side Jena
German talent Lars Lagerpusch will be moving from the easyCredit BBL to the ProA second division as he leaves his hometown club Basketball Löwen Braunschweig for Science City Jena. The 21-year-old Lagerpusch has played in 72 games in Germany’s top flight and moved to Jena, which is coached by Braunschweig’s former head coach Frank Menz.
Bonn bombers end losing streak with home victory over MBC
Telekom Baskets Bonn used some impressive sharp-shooting in knocking off SYNTAINICS MBC 103-85 at home to snap a seven-game losing streak. Bonn built double-digit leads late in the first quarter and early in the third but did not take over for good until late in the third in moving to 2-7. MBC are 2-7 after having ended their own seven-game losing streak. Bonn turned the ball over only nine times with 27 assists while hitting 14-of-25 or 56.0 percent from long range. MBC turned it over 20 times and made just 58.8 percent of their free throws. Six Bonn players scored in double figures, led by Brenden Frazier with 17 points and 5 assists while Yorman Polas Bartolo had 17 points and Stephen Zimmerman collected 11 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals and 1 block off the bench. Kaza Kajami-Keane paced MBC with 21 points, 2 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals, Andrew Warren scored 15 points and Joey Dorsey added 11 points, 11 rebounds and 3 assists in the loss.
Bryant triple-double helps Giessen to home win over Würzburg
JobStairs GIESSEN 46ers got a triple-double from John Bryant in grabbing a 91-87 home victory over s.Oliver Würzburg. Giessen never trailed in the second half in picking up their third win in the last four games to move to 4-6 with Würzburg dropping to 6-5. Giessen turned the ball over only eight times and held Würzburg to 4-of-15 three-pointers (26.7 percent), including zero made long balls in the second half. Bryant collected 19 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists while Matthew Tiby had 15 points and Teyvon Myers and Benjamin Thomas both picked up 14 points. Cameron Wells tallied 21 points and 5 assists in the loss with Skyler Bowlin adding 17 points and 5 assists and Johannes Richter scoring 16 points.
Frankfurt slow down Crailsheim for road victory
FRAPORT SKYLINERS slowed down the league’s top-scoring team as they grabbed a 76-68 road victory at HAKRO Merlins Crailsheim. Frankfurt had a 13-point lead in the second quarter but lost it in the third quarter and the game was tight rest of the way with Adam Waleskowski scoring eight points within 106 seconds in the fourth quarter as Frankfurt moved to 4-6 and Crailsheim fell to 6-4 with their fourth loss in the last five games. Crailsheim, who came into the game averaging 91.4 points, shot just 37.5 percent for the game including just 31.8 percent from two-point range and committed 17 turnovers. Richard Freudenberg set career highs with 21 points and 8 rebounds while Lamont Jones had 20 points and 5 assists and Waleskowski scored 10 of his 12 points in the final 3:56 minutes. Javontae Hawkins paced Crailsheim with 19 points and 5 rebounds and DeWayne Russel tallied 13 points, 2 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals.
Frankfurt add Rahon, try out but do not keep Nash
FRAPORT SKYLINERS added reinforcements as they signed Joe Rahon until the end of the season. The 26-year-old American comes to Frankfurt after playing with Belgian club Spirou Charleroi. The pass-first point guard Rahon was needed to help make up for the injuries to Shaquille Hines and Akeem Vargas. Frankfurt also brought in Tyrone Nash for a try-out but the club decided not to offer the big man a contract.
Stuckey moves from Bamberg to Crailsheim
HAKRO Merlins Crailsheim reacted to the injury to Jeremy Morgan by signing German wing Maurice Stuckey until the end of the season. The 29-year-old Stuckey, who takes the torch as Crailsheim’s oldest player, didn’t have to move that far as he left nearby Brose Bamberg.
Berlin hold on to beat Bayreuth on the road
ALBA BERLIN continued to play well in the easyCredit BBL as they held on to grab an 82-78 victory at medi bayreuth. Berlin led 21-9 after 10 minutes but trailed in the second quarter. Berlin built a 15-point lead in the third quarter but saw themselves up just 81-78 with 20 seconds left but Marcus Eriksson made a free throws with 12 seconds to play to secure their third straight win and an 8-2 record. Bayreuth had won four of five but fell to 4-6. Berlin forced 22 Bayreuth turnovers and held them to only 39.3 percent from the field though Bayreuth did hit 22-of-23 (95.7 percent) free throws. Niels Giffey led Berlin with 15 points and 6 rebounds, Luke Sikma had 14 points and 5 rebounds and Peyton Siva chipped in 12 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals. Bryce Alford scored 18 points and fellow reserve Lukas Meisner picked up 15 points and 5 rebounds as the Bayreuth starters tallied only 33 points.
Eriksson just keeps hitting threes, threes and more threes
Marcus Eriksson is known as a sharp-shooter, but the ALBA BERLIN wing produced a major wow moment. Berlin have a shooting contest at their practices and the 26-year-old Swede set a new club mark which will be hard to break as he nailed an amazing 254 of 259 three-pointers - the previous best being 95-of-100 from Spencer Butterfield. Just enjoy the video:
Bayreuth extend Linhart until end of season
medi bayreuth and Nate Linhart will be together until the end of the season after the sides agree to extend the contract which expired at the end of November. The 33-year-old is back with Bayreuth, with whom he played from 2016 to 2018.
Dragic pours in 31 points in Ulm victory at Oldenburg
Zoran Dragic poured in 31 points as ratiopharm ulm continued their strong play in the league with a 104-91 victory at EWE Baskets Oldenburg. Ulm took over in the fourth quarter as Dragic and Andreas Obst connected on 5-of-7 three-pointers after hitting only 1-of-11 long balls through 30 minutes. Ulm have won four of the last five to move to 5-6 and Oldenburg are 6-5 after alternating wins and losses in the last six games. Ulm shot 56.1 percent for the game including 64.9 percent from two-point range while committing only 10 turnovers. Oldenburg connected on just 35.5 percent from the outside.
In addition to Dragic’s 31 points, Per Günther collected 19 points and 3 assists, Obst tallied 13 points and 4 assists and Seth Hinrichs tallied 10 points and 10 rebounds. Rickey Paulding paced Oldenburg with 21 points while Rasid Mahalbasic had 18 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists and Gerry Blakes picked up 15 points, 5 assists and 2 steals in the loss.
Boothe to miss at least three months for Oldenburg
EWE Baskets Oldenburg will be without power forward Nathan Boothe for three months with a broken shinbone. The 25-year-old American suffered the injury in the home victory against Brose Bamberg and he will miss likely nine games in the easyCredit BBL as well as the quarter-finals of the MagentaSport BBL Pokal German Cup.
Player of the Week
John Bryant picked up Player of the Week honors for his performance in leading JobStairs GIESSEN 46ers to a win over s.Oliver Würzburg. The veteran big man had 19 points on 6-of-12 shots and 4-of-4 free throws to go with 10 rebounds, 12 assists, 1 steal and 0 turnovers for an efficiency of 35.
German Top Five of the Week
G: Per Günther, ratiopharm ulm
Günther scored a season-high 19 points as he nailed 3 three-pointers while also picking up 3 assists and 1 steal off the bench against EWE Baskets Oldenburg.
F: Bennet Hundt, BG Göttingen
Hundt had an outstanding game off the bench and nearly led Göttingen to a shocking win over FC Bayern Munich as he collected a team-high 19 points with 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals off the bench.
LIVE-VIDEO: Ku-schelig ist es hier zwischen den @EWE_Baskets und @ratiopharmulm: 72:72 steht's. @GuntherPer nutzt die Zeit und entflieht dem deutschen Winter, reist von Küste zu Küs-te. #easyCreditBBL pic.twitter.com/dW1syq7RmS
— easyCredit BBL (@easyCreditBBL) December 8, 2019
F: Richard Freudenberg, FRAPORT SKYLINERS
Freudenberg set career highs with 21 points and 8 rebounds in Frankfurt’s win over HAKRO Merlins Crailsheim.
F: Adam Waleskowski, FRAPORT SKYLINERS
Waleskowski scored 12 points in Frankfurt’s win over HAKRO Merlins Crailsheim, including four straight baskets for eight points within 106 seconds in the fourth quarter, in which he scored 10 of his 12 points.
C: Martin Breunig, Telekom Baskets Bonn
Breunig makes it back on the Top Five as he helped Bonn snap their losing streak with 15 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists against SYNTAINICS MBC.
Young Guns
Joshua Obiesie, 19, PG, s.Oliver Würzburg
Obiesie scored a season high 6 points against JobStairs GIESSEN 46ers as he hit all three of his shots to go with 2 rebounds, 3 assists and 0 turnovers in 12:55 minutes as a starter.
Len Schoormann, 17, PG, FRAPORT SKYLINERS
Another Frankfurt talent, the 17-year-old Schoormann scored the first points of his easyCredit BBL career in his second game as he went 1-of-1 from the field for 2 points with 1 turnover in 6:43 minutes against HAKRO Merlins Crailsheim.
Lorenz Brenneke, 19, PF, ALBA BELRIN
Another young German player picked up his first points as the 19-year-old big man Brenneke went 1-of-2 from the field for 2 points to go with 2 rebounds in 8:19 minutes against medi bayreuth - in the second game of his career.
Mattisseck Check
Jonas Mattisseck did not play a major role in the offense for ALBA BERLIN against medi bayreuth as the 19-year-old point guard went scoreless with just one missed three-pointer in 12:21 minutes, in which he had 1 steal and 2 turnovers.
Q3 - 55:59@RichardFreudenb läuft heiß!!!!!#BIGLOVE #BIGTIME
— FRAPORT SKYLINERS (@skyliners1999) December 7, 2019
LIVE auf https://t.co/jd6OkD1pX8 pic.twitter.com/GMAuclKQbM
Nowitzki earns German Order of Merit
Recently-retired Dirk Nowitzki has received one of the biggest honors for a German as the former Dallas Mavericks superstar was awarded with the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for his social activities.
Germans Abroad
Dennis Schröder helped Oklahoma City grab a 139-127 overtime win over Minnesota, thanks in part to a great pass from Steven Adams on the game-tying shot at the end of the regulation. Schröder ended with 25 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists. For the season, Schröder has averaged 16.3 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.6 assists.
