Banvit Bandirma rides Johnson, Moerman to rout of Ulm

Dominique Johnson, Adrien Moerman and Courtney Fortson tied club records in three-pointers made, rebounds and assists, respectively, as Banvit Bandirma routed ratiopharm Ulm 92-72 on Wednesday. The hosts improved to 3-1 in Group G and moved within one victory of the elimination rounds, while Ulm fell to 0-4 and was mathematically eliminated from eighthfinals contention. Johnson made 6-of-8 three-pointers and finished with 20 points, Moerman posted 19 points on near-perfect shooting in addition to 19 rebounds and Fortson tallied 10 points and 11 assists to lead Banvit. Gasper Vidmar and A.J. Slaughter added 15 points apiece for Banvit, which took control early to lead 22-5 and never looked back with the lead peaking at 29. Augustine Rubit paced Banvit with 15 points and 8 rebounds, Taylor Braun added 11 points and Chris Babb scored 10.

Baskets by Tolga Gecim, Vidmar and Johnson gave Banvit a 6-0 start before Rubit got the visitors rolling with a three-pointer. But Banvit continued its strong start as a Johnson triple made it 13-3. Moerman alone scored 7 straight points and Vidmar extended the lead to 22-5 after just six minutes. Phillip Neumann and Babb combined for the first back-to-back baskets for Ulm in the game. Babb and Rubit managed to trim the gap to 10, but Moerman free throws and a Gecim layup made it 29-15 after 10 minutes. Johnson connected on his third three before handing off to Slaughter, who scored 10 points in less than three minutes to take the lead into the 20s. Jackie Carmichael made it 44-19. Pierra Henry tried to rally the visitors, but a pair of Vidmar baskets and a Moerman three boosted the difference to 51-24. Braun scored twice in a 0-9 Ulm push to close the gap. A triple by Rubit made it 53-36 at the break.

Banvit put its stamp on the game when it scored the first 10 points of the third quarter, which included back-to-back threes by Moerman and Fortson. Johnson traded threes with Per Guenther and Babb before a series of Carmichael free throws and a triple by Slaughter took the difference to 29. Carlon Brown ended the third quarter with a three-pointer that made it 79-53. Braun scored 5 points in a 1-11 run, but the outcome was already clear by that points as Banvit coasted to a lopsided victory.