Ulm hands ASVEL first loss of Top 16
ratiopharm Ulm handed LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne its first loss of the 7DAYS EuroCup Top 16 with an 86-68 victory at home in its farewell to the competition for this season. Ismet Akpinar and Javonte Green both scored 17 points while Ra'Shad James added 14 points and Nicolas Bretzel tallied 10 points and 5 rebounds as Ulm finished Group F with a 3-3 record. ASVEL was hoping to stay undefeated knowing that its Top 16 record would potentially have an impact on home-court advantage in latter stages of the EuroCup, but was dropped by Ulm to 5-1. Mantas Kalnietis collected 16 points, 3 rebounds and 7 assists while Livio Jean-Charles and Alex Ajinca both picked up 10 points in the loss.
Jean-Charles was the main man for ASVEL in the early going with the first 6 points before a three-pointer from A.J. Slaughter for a 7-11 lead. Amine Noua's triple had the gap at 11-14 before Dwayne Evans scored 4 points in an 8-0 run to go up 19-14. Ulm was held scoreless for the final 2:22 minutes and it was 19-24 after 10 minutes when Noua hit a buzzer-beating three. Ryan Thompson picked up 6 points to keep Ulm close, 26-29. It was 28-33 when Ulm went on a 12-0 surge with 4 points each from James and Akpinar to go ahead 40-33. Kalnietis stopped the drought, but Ulm went into the break up 46-38. David Kraemer’s 3 points pushed the lead to 11 points as ASVEL was held nearly 3 minutes without a point. The guests responded with a 4-12 run ending with Ajinca’s second three-pointer of the night to pull within 53-50. Ulm punched back with a 9-2 answer as Max Ugrai’s triple put the advantage back to 10 points, 62-52. The margin was 62-57 after 30 minutes. ASVEL was fighting to stay close with Kalnietis trimming it to 68-63, but an Akpinar three extended the lead once again to double digits, 73-63, with 4 minutes left. James added another basket and Akpinar scored 5 straight points to increase the lead to 82-66 to decide the game for good.
Pivotal performer
Ismet Akpinar did it all for Ulm with 17 points including 3 three-pointers to go with 5 rebounds, 7 assists and 1 steal.
Century mark for Ulm coach
Ulm’s Thorsten Leibenath reached the 100 EuroCup-game mark as head coach in the game
Telling numbers
Ulm controlled the boards with a 45-29 rebounding advantage while hitting 17 of 20 (85.0%) free throws.
Next games
Ulm will exit international play and concentrate on the domestic German BBL while ASVEL looks ahead to the playoffs next month.
Tuesday, February 5, 2019
Eurocupbasketball.com