Ulm roars from 23 down to beat Reyer in OT

ratiopharm Ulm picked up its first victory of the 7DAYS EuroCup season after rallying from 23 points down in a tale of two halves and beating Umana Reyer Venice 90-83 in overtime at home. Reyer could not miss a three-pointer in the second quarter in a 4-22 run to build a 22-44 lead. Ulm was down 28-51, but had runs of 25-9 and 13-3 to pull ahead by 6 points late in regulation. Reyer forced overtime where Ulm took control with an 8-0 charge to get lock up the win - and a 1-2 record in Group B. Semaj Christon led Ulm with 19 points and 7 assists while Karim Jallow scored 18 points, Jaron Blossomgame had 17 points, Cristiano Felicio 12 and Thomas Klepeisz added 10 points for the winners. Reyer dropped to 1-2 despite Stefano Tonut scoring 15 points and both Austin Daye and Vasilis Charalampopoulos chipping in 14 points.

Klepeisz opened the scoring for Ulm and it was 4-0 after more than 2 minutes when Michele Vitali hit a three-pointer to put Reyer on the board. Klepeisz added a triple for Ulm and the hosts were up 8-3. Valerio Mazzola and Daye both hit from deep and Charalampopoulos drained a three-pointer just before the end of the first quarter, which Reyer finished on a 5-16 run to lead 13-19 after 10 minutes.

Blossomgame’s free throws got Ulm going offensively to start the second quarter. After Daye knocked down a triple at the other end Fedor Zugic answered from deep. Reyer then unleashed a massive wave of three-pointers with six straight possessions ending with triples - Charalamapopoulous hitting two of them - in a span of just over 4 minutes with the advantage growing to 22-44. Christon responded with the next 6 points to get the deficit down to 28-44 but Julyan Stone added yet another three-pointer for the guests, who were up 28-49 at the break.

Tonut’s basket to start the second half pushed the Reyer lead to 28-51. Ulm raced back into the game thanks to Jallow and Klepeisz combining for 13 points in a 14-3 run to get within 42-54. A Jallow three-pointer cut the margin to single digits and Nicolas Bretzel made it 53-60. The score was 57-64 after 30 minutes.

The Ulm surge continued in the final frame with the first 6 points - 4 from Philipp Herkenhoff to pull within 63-64. Charalamapopoulos finally got Reyer on the board with 3 free throws after nearly 3 minutes. Christon took the reins with 6 straight points including a three-pointer to put Ulm ahead 69-67. Tonut punched back from deep but Blossomgame answered right back with a three-pointer and Felicio made it 76-70. Ulm failed to convert on its next two possessions and Tonut nailed a tough jumper and then a three-pointer to knot the game at 76-76 with 22 seconds left. Ulm committed a turnover and Daye missed a jumper, sending the game to overtime.

In the extra session, Blossomgame hit 2 three-pointers and Ulm found itself back up 6 points, 84-78, with 94 seconds to play. After a timeout, Jallow stripped Tonut and hit the layup and the gap was 8 points to decide the game.

Pivotal performer: Jaron Blossomgame does it all

Jaron Blossomgame was there all night for Ulm. Not only did he score 17 points, but he came up with big baskets as well - including 2 of his 3 three-pointers in overtime. He also grabbed a team-high 9 rebounds while dishing out 5 assists. And then on defense, Blossomgame swiped 4 steals. All that gave him an index rating of 24 for the game. In addition, Blossomgame played a team-high 37:07 minutes, leading a starting five that scored 76 of Ulm’s 90 points.

Reyer falls apart again

The second half against Ulm was not what Reyer head coach Walter De Raffaele wanted to see, especially after the team’s collapse in Round 2. Reyer was out-scored 5-24 in the fourth quarter in losing 62-70 at home against Frutti Extra Bursaspor last week. In Ulm, the Italian side led by 23 points early in the second half and managed only 34 points combined over the final 20 minutes of regulation and overtime. Reyer definitely has work to do in terms of finishing off teams.

Telling numbers: Ulm shuts down Reyer after halftime

Reyer built its first-half lead by shooting 12-of-19 from three-point range (63.2%). Ulm worked much harder in the second half at defending the perimeter and Reyer ended up at 16-of-37 (43.2%) for the game from long range. The visitors also made just 46.7% on two-pointers and committed 20 turnovers. Ulm made 61.0% on two-pointers and also connected on 16 of 23 free throws compared to 7 of 9 from the free-throw stripe for Reyer.