At the start of the BBL Saturday, Ludwigsburg lost in Hamburg. In the evening, Würzburg and Bonn lost against cellar dwellers
Würzburg Baskets and Telekom Baskets Bonn suffered unexpected defeats in the race for the play-off places on the 29th matchday of the Bundesliga. Würzburg lost 86:95 at home to the Rostock Seawolves and suffered its second defeat in a row.
Even 29 points from top scorer Otis Livingstone II did not help against the north-east Germans. Derrick Alston Jr. scored the best points for the Rostock side, which celebrated a hugely important victory in the battle to stay in the league, with 25. Although Livingstone won the duel between the top scorers against Alston, the Rostock player took home the victory. Only Heidelberg’s Justin Jaworski (21 points on average) has scored more often than Livingstone (20.8) and Alston (19.2) in the league.
The Seawolves’ victory was all the more valuable because HAKRO Merlins Crailsheim also won its game against Telekom Baskets Bonn by 98:89 in the basement. Crailsheim is in 17th place with seven wins and thus in the first direct relegation spot, while Rostock has eight wins – and still has a game in hand.
While Crailsheim is thus keeping its hopes in the basement alive, Bonn has suffered another setback. It was the Telekom Baskets’ fourth away defeat in a row and they failed to make the leap into the direct play-off places
Hamburg celebrates important win against Ludwigsburg
The Veolia Towers Hamburg celebrated an important victory with a 98:84 win against the MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg. The Towers improved their record to 14 wins and 15 defeats and thus consolidated tenth place, which still entitles them to participate in the play-in games. Ludwigsburg, on the other hand, conceded its twelfth defeat and so suffered a setback in the race for a safe play-off spot.
Ludwigsburg got off to a strong start in the Hanseatic city and led 17:5 early on. However, Hamburg worked its way back and led 48:46 at the break. The second half was close for a long time, but the Towers opened up a double-digit lead for the first time with around seven minutes left on the clock and never let it slip out of their grasp.
