Ulm collects third place with win over Unicaja

U18 ratiopharm Ulm collected a third place finish at the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Valencia after knocking off U18 Unicaja Malaga 69-65. Jeremy Sochan paced Ulm with 15 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists while David Fuchs and Andrija Grbovic both scored 12 points and Jacob Ensminger added 11 points. Jose Tanchyn was Unicaja’s leading scorer with 15 points to go with 10 rebounds while Daniil Shelist had 14 points and 8 rebounds and Tablo Tamba chipped in 11 points in the defeat.

Jakob Hanzalek opened the scoring for Ulm and Shelist gave Unicaja its first lead 2-4. It was tight throughout the opening frame with Rafa Santos’ three-pointer making it 8-11. Ulm answered with the next five points and led 15-13 after 10 minutes. Unicaja scored the first four points of the second quarter to pull ahead with Fuchs converting an and-one and Grbovic draining a triple in Ulm’s 13-4 run to open a 28-21 cushion. Tanchyn answered with a three-pointer at the other end and Unicaja was down 29-26 at the break.

Unicaja evened the game 32-32 early in the second half and it was 37-35 when Ulm reeled off an 11-2 run to take a 48-37 advantage. The gap was 48-41 after 30 minutes. Grbovic scored seven straight points as the Ulm cushion extended to 57-47. The German side had wasted a 14-point lead in losing to U18 FC Barcelona in its first game of the tournament and Unicaja surged back with seven consecutive points to pull within 57-54 but Sochan twice scored to keep Unicaja at an arm’s length. And Ensminger hit four of four free throws in the final 22 seconds to secure the win.