Despite missing its starting center and point guard, Ratiopharm Ulm knocked off KK Cibona Zagreb 83-68 at home to improve to 2-0 in Group G of the Eurocup. Center John Bryant and playmaker Per Guenther both missed the game with ankle injuries, but the rest of the team picked up the slack. Philipp Schwethelm scored a game-high 22 points while Dane Watts had 17 points, Keaton Nankivil and Daniel Theis 13 each and Lance Jeter 10 points. Zagreb dropped to 0-2 in the group, wasting an 18-point showing by D.J. Strawberry, while Davor Kus tallied 14 points and Andrija Zizic added 13.

Zizic and Masic combined for 12 points in giving the guests a 7-12 lead early. But Watts scored six of his 12 first quarter points in a 10-0 run and Schwethelm added seven of Ulm’s final eight points in the period as the hosts opened a 28-19 lead after one quarter. A triple by Sebastian Betz and a three-point play by Watts pushed the advantage to 38-25. And then Theis and Schwethelm combined for 10 points in a 10-2 surge to increase the margin to 50-31. Strawberry’s three-pointer made it 50-34 at the break.

The cushion bulged to 20 points, 54-34, early in the second half but two three-pointers from Strawberry and one from Masic cut that margin to 11 points – 54-43 – in a three-minute Ulm scoring drought. Schwethelm snapped the run with a triple but Strawberry’s long ball brought Zagreb to within 60-52. But then it was Jeter’s turn to take over with three straight baskets to close the quarter for a 66-52 Ulm lead. Pavle Marcinkovic and Kus nailed threes in the fourth to cut the deficit to 70-63 with five minutes to play. Nankivil and Kus swapped three before Nankivil started the knock-out punch, a 10-2 run to finish the game.