Slask storms Hamburg for maiden win
Slask Wroclaw captured its first victory over the 7DAYS EuroCup season by blasting Hamburg Towers 87-71 on Wednesday night at Hala Orbita. The hosts led by as many as 26 before easing up late in the game. The result left both teams with 1-5 records and tied for eighth place in Group A alongside Dolomiti Energia Trento. Travis Trice ran the Slask attack with 18 points and 9 assists, Aleksander Dziewa also scored 18 and collected 10 rebounds and 2 blocks, Kodi Justice added 15 points on 4-of-10 three-point shooting and Kerem Kanter tallied 9 points and 11 rebounds for the winners. Seth Hinrichs paced Hamburg with 16 points and 8 rebounds, Maximilian Di Leo added 14 points and Caleb Homesley tallied 13 points and 6 assists in defeat.
Jaylon Brown took a steal in for a layup to open the scoring before Dziewa got Slask on the scoreboard. Justice struck from deep for the hosts’ first lead, 5-3. Justice connected on a second triple to make it 9-3, after which Hamburg made three early substitutions. Homesley got the visitors going with a floater and Di Leo added a three-pointer. Justice drilled another three, though Maik Kotsar took charge with a pair of baskets and on defense drawing an offensive foul. Di Leo tied it at 14-14 after a steal by Homesley. Dziewa put Slask back in front and Kanter made it 18-14 after 10 minutes.
The hosts rebuilt their lead to 23-16 on a triple by Jakub Karolak. Di Leo responded from downtown and Kotsar got Hamburg within 2. Slask pulled away again as Justice made a triple and Michal Gabinski added free throws for a double-digit lead, 32-21. Hinrichs heated up for Hamburg though Slask continued to make shots and remained comfortably ahead. Dziewa scored at the rim and Trice added free throws to stretch the margin to 47-33 at the break.
Hamburg looked rejuvenated at the start of the second half with 2 steals and 2 offensive rebounds in the first 2 minutes for a 0-6 run. The hosts called a timeout to settle down, Kanter scored on the offensive glass and Trice made free throws to give Slask a 51-39 cushion. Homesley nailed a pair of threes to trim the deficit to 53-47 midway through the quarter. Trice responded with a steal and a three-point play and Ivan Ramljak restored a double-digit margin. A triple by Karolak capped a 9-0 run and prompted a Hamburg timeout down 15. Trice beat the third-quarter buzzer from mid-court for a 67-50 advantage.
Back-to-back threes by Trice and Dziewa early in the fourth quarter took Slask’s lead into the 20s. Trice fed Ramljak for a slam that extended the margin to a game-high 81-55 with 5 minutes remaining. Hinrichs and Di Leo stepped up for Hamburg to lower the deficit in the closing minutes with the game’s outcome already clear.
Trice runs the show for Slask
Travis Trice tied the club record for assists with 9 in controlling the Slask Wroclaw attack against Hamburg Towers. Trice also scored 18 points and grabbed 2 steals in compiling a performance index rating of 27, which tied his personal best. He scored 7 points and dished 4 assists in the second quarter when Slask outscored Hamburg 29-19 to take a 14-point halftime lead. ; He added 8 more points in the third to keep Hamburg on its heels. His assist total tied Rashid Atkins for the most in club history. Atkins had 9 dimes against Dynamo Moscow in February 2008.
By the numbers: Slask dominates the box score
Slask Wroclaw outshot Hamburg Towers from all ranges and controlled the rebounding battle in its comfortable win on Wednesday. The hosts made 14 of 30 two-pointers (46.7%), 13 of 33 threes (39.4%) and 20 of 26 free throws (76.9%). Though those numbers were far from outstanding, they dwarfed Hamburg’s 17 for 43 on twos (39.5%), 11 for 35 on threes (31,4%) and 4 for 7 on from the foul line (57.1%). Slask also had 48 rebounds to Hamburg’s 38. Even though the visitors had more offensive rebounds (11-13), Slask scored 15 second-chance points, which were 7 more than the Hamburg total.
Hinrichs is the bright light for Hamburg
Seth Hinrichs set a career-high in scoring with 16 points for Hamburg Towers in Wednesday’s loss at Slask Wroclaw. He also tallied 8 rebounds and 3 assists for a performance index rating of 20. He led his team in scoring, rebounds and PIR and was the only starter to score in double figures. Hinrichs scored 7 points in the fourth quarter to help the team trim a 26-point deficit down to 13. His previous personal best in scoring was 12 in Round 4 against Lietkabelis. This is the 28-year-old forward’s second season in the competition.
Wednesday, December 8, 2021
Eurocupbasketball.com