The giants of Ludwigsburg have also lost the second game against JDA Dijon and are therefore out of the FIBA Europe Cup. The team from Ludwigsburg suffered greatly from the many absences – including head coach John Patrick.
Ludwigsburg giants had to give up their clean slate against JDA Dijon in the previous week. The Barockstädter lost the first leg in the quarterfinals of the Europe Cup by 13 points. “The starting position could have been better, but also worse,” said coach John Patrick afterwards. The task in the second leg – in front of their home crowd – was therefore to make up the difference. However, they had to do so without their coach, who was absent with an infection.
And sure enough, Ludwigsburg began with great motivation. In particular, it was able to make its mark on the French club in defense. A 9:0 run midway through the period put the Giants six points in front at one stage.
A slump in the second quarter breaks Ludwigsburg
The visitors responded with a 15:0 run of their own in the second period. Ludwigsburg failed to score for almost five minutes. Two free throws by Johannes Patrick ended the drought, but ultimately only reduced the deficit to -6 and then -19 when the first leg is taken into account.
The second half also failed to bring the hoped-for turnaround. In particular, German international Christian Sengfelder, who played for Dijon, scored eight of his 15 points in the third period. It was lucky for Ludwigsburg during this spell that Dijon let up a little in the final phase of the quarter and missed a number of open shots. They eventually went into the final quarter trailing by just five, having been 15 points behind at one stage.
The home side repeatedly came close to retaking the lead. A three by the strong Polas (21, 8/14) reduced the deficit to a single point with six minutes remaining. However, Dijon made the right adjustments in the subsequent timeout and quickly stretched the gap back to double digits, seemingly robbing Ludwigsburg of any hope of victory.
Ludwigsburg now faces the trip to Frankfurt Skyliners on Sunday (3:30 p.m.).
