The Telekom Baskets Bonn won their last game of the year in the BBL against Science City Jena. In May, Cooks had led Jena into the BBL.
Coach Marko Stankovic’s team won 92:80 (44:29) on Monday evening and moved up to sixth place with their eighth win in the 14th game of the season. The table 15th. Jena, on the other hand, suffered its fifth defeat in a row and has been waiting for its second home win since November 8th.
The best thrower at Bonn with 20 points was Zach Cooks, who led newly promoted Jena into the Bundesliga in May and moved to Bonn in the summer. At Jena, Joe Weiskamp stood out with 22 points.
Bonn improves in the second quarter
Bonn started well against a Jena that made mistakes at the start and quickly led 7-0 after points from Grayson Murphy (2 points) and Jeff Garret (5) before the hosts took an early first time-out. After two and a half minutes, Joe Wieskamp scored Jena’s first points (7:2) with a layup. Bonn then missed a few throws so that Jena’s Keith Braxton Jr. was able to shorten the score to 9:8 with a free throw. Jena only hit one three-pointer in the opening quarter, but Weiskamp’s throw meant Jena took the lead in the game for the first time (15:16).
In the second quarter, the Baskets turned the deficit back into a lead with five points in a row (20:16). Bonn became increasingly more concentrated and had the best phase in the first half with a score of 26:25. Thanks to two lay-ups from Kur Jongkuch and Cooks as well as two three-pointers from Joel Aminu and Patrick Heckmann, Bonn pulled away with a 10-0 run to make it 36:25. The Baskets got better and better: Aminu with another three-pointer and Jongkuch with an alley-oop extended the lead to 15 points (44:29) by the halftime break.
While Bonn’s field goal rate was still under 30 percent in the first quarter, it rose to 40 percent by halftime. Jena, on the other hand, hardly hit anything from the three-point line and lost twelve balls in the first 20 minutes.
Bonn missed the start of the second half
After the break, Jena was wide awake. Wieskamp and Eric Washington each with a three-pointer and Wieskamp with two more free throws brought the hosts within 89 seconds to 44:37. When the strong Wieskamp reduced the score to 46:40, Bonn’s Garret had the right answer: he followed up a successful throw from close range with a three-pointer (51:40).
Bonn was now stable again. Cooks really hurt his former club with two threes in a row (68:51/27th minute of the game). Jena was able to reduce its turnovers in the third quarter, but remained weak from the three-point line (25 percent) and also had room for improvement from the free throw line (63 percent). Bonn also showed better team play and went into the final quarter with a comfortable 15-point lead (70:55).
A similar picture emerged in the last ten minutes, so that the Baskets had no trouble keeping the home team at bay. After a three-pointer from Lorenz Bank, Jena’s deficit became single digits again (81:72), but Heckmann and Cooks responded immediately (85:72).
In the new year against Bamberg
The Baskets start the new year with a home game against Bamberg on January 5th (8 p.m.) before Bonn plays against Bayern Munich on January 11th (6 p.m.). Jena will be a guest at Mitteldeutscher BC on January 3rd (8 p.m.).
Our sources:
- BBL game between Jena and Bonn on December 29th, 2025
- Streaming service DYN
- BBL website
Broadcast: “Bonn celebrates successful annual results”, WDR.de, December 29th, 2025, 10:17 p.m
