Nationally and internationally, German teams were in action on Wednesday. In the BBL, Alba celebrated a clear victory against Braunschweig – their eleventh consecutive victory in a must-win game. On the European stage, Crailsheim had to say goodbye. Ludwigsburg also suffered a setback.
Alba Berlin has extended its winning streak, which has lasted for almost six weeks, to a proud eleven victories. The German champions and cup winners beat the Löwen Braunschweig 95:80 (42:37) in the Bundesliga and moved up to third place in the table with 32:10 points. However, leaders Bayern Munich (36:12) and Telekom Baskets Bonn (36:14) have played three and four games more respectively.
Berlin around top scorer Jaleen Smith (19 points) pulled away decisively in the third quarter (30:18). The Braunschweig team could not embarrass the favourites, who have not lost since 4 February, in the last ten minutes. The Lions are in the middle of the table with 18:28 points.
The Fraport Skyliners from Frankfurt lost the basement duel against s.Oliver Würzburg 61:69 (25:44) and slipped to the last place behind the JobStairs Giessen 46ers (10:34) with now 10:36 points. Würzburg (14:34) managed a big point.
Crailsheim missed Europe Cup semi-finals
The Crailsheim Merlins, meanwhile, missed out on a place in the semi-finals of the FIBA Europe Cup on Wednesday. After winning the first leg 71-68, the Merlins lost 77-85 (49-53) at Dutch club ZZ Leiden.
The hosts got off to the better start and hit almost every shot. But bit by bit things went better for the Merlins, and so they also took the lead for the first time in the second quarter. The basis for this was their strong three-point quota of 64 percent. Nevertheless, they were trailing 49:53 at the break due to weaknesses in the defence.
In the second half, the Merlins then struggled enormously offensively and no longer hit as high a percentage. This allowed Leiden to pull away to as many as 15 points. Although the team of coach Sebastian Gleim reduced the gap until the end, it was not enough to reach the semi-finals.
Ludwigburg are in danger of reaching the quarter-finals
The MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg, meanwhile, are still in doubt about reaching the quarter-finals of the Champions League. The Bundesliga team lost 68:71 (24:28) against Hapoel U-NET Holon from Israel on Wednesday.
Ludwigsburg got off to an extremely weak start on the offensive in their home arena, hitting only ten of 39 throws in the first half. At least coach John Patrick’s team defended attentively, so that the Israelis only went into the break with a narrow 28:24 lead.
In the second half, the home side found their offensive rhythm and even managed to equalise in the final quarter. However, the Ludwigsburg team left their opponents more space in the defence and thus had to accept another defeat against Holon. Next Wednesday, a win at Galatasaray Istanbul is necessary to enter the quarter-finals.
