The outstanding national team player Maodo Lo led Alba to victory at Red Star Belgrade with 24 points Photo: picture alliance / Eibner-Presse
By Nicolas Sowa
Alba can still win! After the last six series of bankruptcies, the Berliners won the Euroleague 87:72 (39:44) thanks to a strong last quarter at the top Serbian club Red Star Belgrade.
Nevertheless, Alba remains at the bottom of the table. The best Berlin throwers were the outstanding Maodo Lo with 24 points and Louis Olinde with 13 points.
Coach Israel Gonzalez was without long-term absentee Marcus Eriksson and Yovel Zoosman with a shoulder injury. His team struggled against Red Star’s very physical style of play from the start.
The Berliners made too many mistakes and therefore initially ran behind a deficit. At the end of the first quarter it was already in double digits (15:25).
National player Johannes Thiemann has the ball under control and is already aiming for the basket Photo: picture alliance / Eibner-Presse
IIn the second quarter, however, Alba came into play better offensively and was able to fight back. At times it was only four points behind (33:37), but the guests did not manage to overtake with a longer run. Red Star was always quick to reply.
However, the Berliners started the second half with an 8-0 run and were able to take the lead for the first time in the game (45:44). Now the game was completely balanced again and the lead changed back and forth.
At the beginning of the last section, Alba was able to pull away decisively with a 10:0 run. After that, the guests had everything under control until the end.