Ulm leaves Podgorica with valuable victory

ratiopharm Ulm shook things up in Group B of the 7DAYS EuroCup Regular Season with a resounding 68-89 road win over Buducnost VOLI Podgorica at Moraca. Ulm scored the first 7 points of the game and never looked back in winning on the road for the third time this season to improve to 5-5. Buducnost, which entered the night in sole possession of first place in the group, fell to 7-3 and a tie for first place with Valencia Basket. Semaj Christon paced the winners with 18 points and 6 assists, Felicio Cristiano posted 17 points and 10 rebounds, Jaron Blossomgame added 14 points, 9 boards and 2 steals and Karim Jallow scored 11 for the winners. Justin Cobbs led Buducnost with 17 points, 4 assists and 4 steals, Petar Popovic scored 16 off the bench, D.J. Seeley added 13 and Marko Jagodic-Kuridza 10.

Ulm jumped in front by scoring the game’s first 7 points, including a three by Sindarius Thornwell, before Cobbs got Buducnost on the scoreboard with a three-point play. Ulm remained in control thanks to Jallow and extended the lead to 5-14 on a Christon-to-Cristiano alley-oop slam. After a timeout, Blossomgame’s slam gave the visitors a double-digit lead. Cobbs had an assist and a steal and layup as Buducnost recovered with a pair of baskets, but Ulm continued to soar. A layup by Jallow made it 11-25 and prompted a timeout. Christon connected from deep to extend it to 15-30 after 10 minutes.

Cobbs and Thomas Klepeisz traded threes to start the second quarter. Despite the best efforts of Cobbs, Ulm continued to roll and Fedor Zugic made it 20-37. A tremendous blocked shot by Cobbs fueled Buducnost and Popovic scored on back-to-back possessions, but Felicio continued Ulm’s dominance in taking the margin to 19. Even though Jagodic-Kuridza drained a three and Vladimir Micov added free throws, Blossomgame kept the visitors in charge. Despite 4 points by Seeley, a put-back by Nicolas Bretzel gave Ulm a 33-50 halftime advantage.

Both teams appeared to have cooled off at the break with nearly 3 and a half minutes passing before the first basket – a triple by Jagodic-Kuridza. Ulm maintained its big lead through free throws as the hosts got no closer than 13. Zugic knocked down a three and Semaj split free throws as the lead grew to 43-62. Blossomgame made it a 20-point game and that was how the third quarter ended, 48-68.

Klepeisz stretched the margin to 23 with a three-pointer on the first possession of the fourth quarter. Baskets by Popovic and Filip Barovic prompted a timeout by Ulm. Felicio righted the Ulm ship, though Buducnost continued to chip away at the deficit. Popovic drew the hosts within 14, but there would be no late charge as Ulm completed the impressive win.

Victory for Ulm assistant McCoy

ratiopharm Ulm assistant coach Tyron McCoy stood in for Jaka Lakovic in this game and guided the team to a victory for the first time since October 2014. McCoy coached Artland Dragons Quakenbrueck for two seasons in the EuroCup, from 2013 to 2015, but only won three of his 20 games on the sidelines. A star shooting guard in the German League as a player, McCoy has been an assistant with Ulm since 2018 and was more than ready when called upon to guide his team to victory, even on the continental stage.

By the numbers: Ulm cleans the glass

Buducnost VOLI Podgorica was missing centers Willie Reed and Zoran Nikolic against ratiopharm Ulm in Round 10 and the visitors took advantage to dominate inside. Ulm outrebounded Buducnost 24-41 and allowed merely 4 offensive rebounds, which the hosts converted into just 2 points. In contrast, Ulm scored 10 second-chance points from 7 offensive boards. Ulm took advantage of the fact that Buducnost had no rim protectors to shoot 69.2% on two-pointers, which is fifth-best in club history. The home team was also plagued by poor three-point shooting; Buducnost made just 3 of 19 triples (15.8%), which was its worst shooting night of the season.

Cobbs comes through again for Buducnost

On a night when so little went well for Buducnost VOLI Podgorica, Justin Cobbs put up another big stat line. The veteran guard amassed 17 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals and 1 block alongside 5 turnovers. He made 4 of 10 two-pointers, converted his only three-point try and was perfect in 6 trips to the foul line. Amazingly, those impressive numbers are below average for him in a season in which he’s been worth 18.4 points and 4.6 assists per game. Cobbs moved into sole possession of 13th place on the EuroCup’s all-time assists charts with 315 and he is now just 16 dimes behind Marko Popovic for 10th place.