After surprisingly defeating Joventut Badalona in the round of 16, Jaka Lakovič’s team went to face sixteen-time Italian champions Virtus Bologna in the quarter-finals.
A game decides
The special feature of the competition is that, unlike in basketball, the KO rounds are decided in just one game and not in a best-of series. The resulting tension was clearly noticeable in both teams at the beginning. The hosts were the first to get over their nervousness. Driven by ex-NBA star Milos Teodosic, who was always able to use his team-mates well or, alternatively, to finish the game himself, the home side took a 12:9 lead in the middle of the first quarter. From Ulm’s point of view, Semaj Christon and Nicolas Bretzel made sure that the gap did not get too big at this point.
Bologna’s very powerful defensive force repeatedly forced Ulm to make very difficult shots from distance. Only one throw out of six attempts beyond the 3-point line found its way through the traps.
After an unsportsmanlike foul on Christoph Philipps, who converted the following two free throws, and another successful attempt from the field by Fedor Zugic, Ulm went into the quarter break at 17:25.
Ulm meets from outside…
At the start of the second quarter, Bologna seemed a little unfocused. Again it was Bretzel who was played well by his teammates under the basket and was able to bring Ulmer up to 4 points. On the other side of the floor, too, the guests did better. Time and time again they managed to stop the flexible passing game of the hosts. And so it was the Austrian Thomas Klepeisz, who scored the first Ulm lead (29:31) in the middle of the second quarter. And then there were the 3-point throws. Thanks to two successful attempts by Klepeisz and one by Jaron Blossomgame, the Ulm team pulled away to 40:36. Mainly the good mood Mouhammadou Jaiteh made sure at Bologna that the Ulmer could not pull away. He already scored 15 points in the first half, which the guests from Ulm still won 45:43.
…Bologna not
In the third quarter, the spectators in the sold-out arena saw a game at eye level. Neither team was able to pull away successfully at first. This was also due to the very physical and well-functioning Ulm defence, which ensured that the home side repeatedly took shots from distance – but without success. Only a 3-point throw found its target. In the middle of the third quarter, the guests gained a small lead (61:56), which they quickly gambled away due to lack of concentration in their own defense. After an unnecessary foul following a missed rebound and a bad throw-in two seconds before the end, Ulm went into the final section 62:67.
10:0 run makes the decision
And again it was the distance throws that brought the UImer back into the game. Sindariu Thornwell, Jaron Blossomgame and once more Thomas Klepeisz gave the guests a 77:74 lead. But then the tide turned in favor of the hosts. Although they continued to try unsuccessfully from a distance, they were able to get hold of the rebound under the UImer basket more and more often and work out simple and successful shots. After a 10-0 run for Bologna in the last four minutes, the decision fell in favor of the home side, who won the game 83:77.
Source: SWR