Ulm rallies to beat Jerusalem 89-87 in Game 1

A 15-0 turn-around run over 5 minutes in the fourth quarter boosted Ratiopharm Ulm to a late 89-87 victory over visiting Hapoel Jerusalem in Game 1 of their eighthfinal series on Wednesday in Germany. The decisive second showdown is next Wednesday in Jerusalem, after which the team with the best aggregate score over both games will advance to the quarterfinals. Ulm played from behind for all but one possession in the first three quarters Wednesday before its defense shut off Jerusalem in the fourth to seize an 83-76 lead with 2:53 to play. Jerusalem, which had enjoyed double-digit leads in the second half, had to rally to take home a closer score to work with. Edgar Sosa led the winners with 19 points, while Philipp Schwethelm added 11 and Will Clyburn 10. Jerusalem's five double-digit scorers were led by Josh Duncan with 22 points. Artsiom Parakhouski and Bracey Wright added 15 points each, Lior Eliyahu 12 and Yotam Halperin 11 for the visitors.

Jerusalem blasted off to an early 5-15 lead as Parakhouski and Halperin split 13 of those points while the other visiting starters were collecting assists, steals and blocks. Although a third three-pointer in less than 6 minutes by Adam Hess kept Ulm from disappearing on its own floor, Derwin Kitchen, Eliyahu, Ronald Dupree and Parakhouski soon gave Jerusalem its biggest lead, 11-23. Ulm's defense finally kicked in as Matt Howard and Keaton Nanikivil joined the scoring for the hosts. And when Sosa finished the quarter with 5 points in a row, Ulm had cut the damage to 22-27 after 10 minutes. Only a dunk by Wright prevented Howard, with 5 consecutive points to start the second quarter, from tying the score. After Jerusalem went back up by 27-33, Schwethelm boosted Ulm with back-to-back triples, but again Jerusalem escaped to a 38-42 lead as Duncan put up 5 points in a row. Despite Ian Hummer's three-pointer and Clyburn's go-ahead layup at 43-42 for Ulm, the guests responded with the last 8 points of the second quarter to restore a commanding lead, 43-50, going into halftime.

Sosa reached double digits in scoring the second half's first basket, but Halperin and Parakhouski raised the lead to 8 points, 45-53, for Jerusalem. Just when the scoring seemed to have slowed compared to the first half, and Sosa's triple got Ulm within 50-53, Kitchen and Halperin combined for 6 points in less than a minute for a 50-59 difference. Ulm pushed back to within 57-61 as Cameron Long pumped in 7 straight, but again Jerusalem not only wouldn't break, but followed Duncan to a new double-digit lead, 57-67. That's when Per Guenther took his turn for Ulm with the next 5 points and cut the difference to 64-69 after 30 minutes. Wright opened the fourth quarter with a triple for Jerusalem, but Ulm's defense suddenly stifled the guests for 3 full minutes while Clyburn stepped up with 6 points on the way to a 72-72 tie with under 7 minutes left. Guenther did the honors of making the go-ahead layup for Ulm at 74-72. Sosa would bury a three-pointer and Hummer down a layup before Jerusalem got its second basket of the fourth quarter, a dunk by Eliyahu, ending a 5-minute, 15-0 run by the hosts. After Schwethelm buried a three of his own to give Ulm its biggest lead, 83-76, Duncan and Wright struck back to get Jerusalem within 83-80. Soon, Duncan buried a triple to make it even closer, 89-87, with 42 seconds left, but that's where the scoring ended, sending the series to Jerusalem next week as a virtual tie.