The Telekom Baskets Bonn defied technical problems and delays and clearly beat the MLP Academics Heidelberg.
Coach Marko Stankovic’s team won clearly on Saturday evening under strange circumstances with 100:67 (54:19) against bottom team Heidelberg and won again after two defeats in a row. As seventh in the table, the Rhinelanders are back in touch with the playoff places.
The game did not take place in Heidelberg, but as part of a so-called event game in the larger arena in Mannheim. The Baskets were already in favor of such a game against FC Bayern in the last game before Christmas basketball moved to the Lanxess Arena in Cologne. In contrast to the record crowd in Cologne, the Mannheim hall was not nearly full.
45 minutes late – Baskets lodge a protest
However, this event began with serious technical problems. Because the scoreboards above both baskets didn’t work, replacements had to be found.
After a delay of over 45 minutes, the game began with a small scoreboard on the scoreboard. The 24 seconds each team had to attack were counted down over loudspeakers by the timekeeper at the scorer’s table. Later, mobile shot clocks could be placed behind both baskets.
Because the delay lasted longer than 30 minutes, the Baskets lodged a prophylactic protest before tip-off. Bonn’s sports director Savo Milovic confirmed this during the half-time break at DYN.
Bonn outclassed Heidelberg in the first half
On the field, the Baskets and especially Michael Kessens clearly dominated the initial phase. The Bonn center scored all of his team’s points to take a 10-2 lead after three minutes. The baskets stayed hot. Two successful three-pointers from Joel Aminu increased Bonn’s lead to 16:2.
Heidelberg, on the other hand, seemed completely out of sorts and couldn’t get anything going on offense until the final phase of the first quarter. The first quarter therefore ended with a crazy 30:5 for Bonn and whistles from the Heidelberg fans.
In the second half of the game, the Academics kept up, at least at the beginning. However, the Baskets kept their lead at over 20 points due to a strong hit rate and even extended it again towards the end. The Bonn team were also surprisingly accurate from the outside. We went into the halftime break with a clear 19:54.
Aminu sinks seven three-pointers – Kessens with a double-double
After the break the game was even, but of course decided long ago. Even though the third quarter went to Heidelberg with a score of 27:20, Bonn still had a clear lead of 74:46.
It became clear again in the final quarter, also because the outstanding Aminu sank a total of seven three-pointers in this game. In the end, the Bonn guard was the game’s top scorer with 21 points, followed by his teammates Kessens and Jeff Garrett Jr. with 18 points each. Center Kessens recorded a double-double with an additional eleven rebounds.
Away double pack for Bonn
The Baskets will play another away game in the BBL on Monday. The Bonn team will compete at Science City Jena at 8 p.m. One day later, Heidelberg welcomes the Skyliners from Frankfurt.
Our sources:
- Game between MLP Academics Heidelberg and Telekom Baskets Bonn on December 27th, 2025 on DYN
Broadcast: WDR.de“Bonn outclasses Heidelberg in chaos game”, December 27th, 2025, 10:42 p.m
