MHP RIESEN Ludwigsburg keeps Brindisi winless

MHP RIESEN Ludwigsburg held off a late charge from Enel Basket Brindisi to win 84-80 on Tuesday. The win boosted Ludwigsburg to 2-2 in Group B, while Brindisi fell to 0-4. The game was tied going into the fourth quarter, but Rocky Trice keyed a 14-0 run that seemed to put the game away until the visitors used 11 unanswered points to get within 2 in the final minute. In the end, Mustafa Shakur made 4 free throws to ice the win. Alvaro Munoz-Borchers made 5 of 9 three-pointers to lead Ludwigsburg with 17 points, Trice added 16 points and 5 assists and Shakur tallied 11 points and 5 assists. Adrian Banks led Brindisi with 18 points, Durand Scott scored 17, Nemanja Milosevic 14 and David Cournooh 10.

Ludwigsburg held Brindisi scoreless for the first four-plus minutes of the game, however with only a Munoz-Borchers triple and a Jason Boone free throw on the board, the visitors were right back in it after an Adrian Banks triple. Another Munoz-Borchers three and a Jon Brockman basket inside pushed Ludwigsburg ahead 11-5. A Milosevic triple sparked Brindisi, which took a lead on Alex Harris free throws. Trice’s steal and layup put Ludwigsburg in front once more and Munoz-Borchers’s third three ended the first quarter at 19-14. Harris kept Brindisi close with a three-pointer and another from Cournooh made it 26-23. Brad Loesing scored and then stole the ball to set up a Royce O’Neale basket for an 8-point advantage. Brindisi refused to fall too far behind and Djordje Gagic free throws narrowed the gap to 34-31. But Munoz-Borchers connected from downtown for the fifth time and Shawn Huff extended the difference to 9. After a Milosevic three and Huff free throws, it was 44-36 at halftime.

Scott scored three times in a 2-10 run to start the second half that tied the game at 46-46. Banks soon gave Brindisi the lead at 48-50. Back-to-back threes by David McCray and Huff sent Ludwigsburg back ahead, 56-52. Scott’s first three-pointer resulted in the lead switching hands again. After a three-point play by Trice, Harris’s free throws left things tied at 60-60 through three quarters. It was tied at 62-62 after Milosevic free throws, but Ludwigsburg took charge with 14 unanswered points that all but sealed the outcome. Trice scored 6 points and dished an assists during this game-breaking run that made it 76-62. However Brindisi reeld off 11 unanswered points to get within 78-75 with a minute to go. Banks and Scott each scored 4 in the run. Banks closed the gap to 2 in the last minute, but Shakur made 4 late free throws to ice the win.