MHP RIESEN Ludwigsburg past Brindisi and into Last 32

MHP RIESEN Ludwigsburg advanced to the Last 32 by racing past Enel Basket Brindisi 60-87 on the road in Group B. Ludwigsburg picked up its fifth win in the last six games to improve to 6-3 in the group. Jason Boone led Ludwigsburg with 16 points, while Tekele Cotton and Royce O’Neale both scored 13 points and Rocky Trice chipped in 10 points and 6 steals. Brindisi dropped to 1-8 despite Nemanja Milosevic collecting 13 points and 12 rebounds, while Djordje Gagic scored 12 points and Kenneth Kadji added 11 points.

Cotton opened the scoring for Ludwigsburg and Gagic got Brindisi on the board right after that. The hosts went ahead for the first time on Adrian Banks’s three-ball for 7-4. Trice pushed Ludwigsburg back ahead at 9-10 and three Boone baskets made it 10-16. Gagic’s three-point play got the gap down to 15-18 but Alvaro Munoz-Borchers’s long ball had Ludwigsburg up 17-23. A foul shot by Milosevic left it 20-23 after 10 minutes. O’Neale’s triple increased the lead to 20-26 before Cotton and O’Neale tallied for a 22-30 cushion. Despite the guests going scoreless for 4:45 minutes, Brindisi could not pull ahead though Kadji scored five points to make it 29-30. Cotton ended the drought and Boone and Cotton combined for three free throws as the lead was back to 30-35. Trice scored his third basket of the game for the guests and O’Neale knocked down back-to-back long-balls as the Ludwigsburg cushion was up to 32-43 at intermission.

Gagic scored the first five points of the second half for Brindisi to get the hosts to within 37-45. O’Neale and Trice scored to re-establish a 10-point lead and the advantage was 41-54 after two Boone free throws and a score from Mustafa Shakur. Ludwigsburg went scoreless for two minutes and Brindisi got a three-pointer from Alex Harris and a score from Durand Scott to cut the deficit to 47-54. Chris McNaughton answered with four straight points and another score after a Brad Loesing basket as Ludwigsburg raced ahead 47-62. Two Scott free throws made it 49-62 after 30 minutes. Adam Waleskowski opened the fourth for Ludwigsburg to re-establish a 15-point lead. Kadji answered with a three-ball and made it 54-66, but the hosts went scoreless over the next 2:44 minutes and Cotton had a basket and assist as the lead grew to 54-72 with seven minutes to play. Domenico Marzaioli snapped the scoring drought with a three-pointer but Brindisi failed to score for the next 3:16 minutes. Ludwigsburg finished off the game for good with an 0-10 run for a 57-82 advantage with about two minutes to play.