Alba Berlin has won its fourth consecutive victory in the basketball Bundesliga. On Tuesday (12/27/22) the reigning champions defeated the MBC from Weißenfels in the East Derby with 86:60 (37:29).
The albatrosses caught up with leaders Telekom Baskets Bonn. Both clubs have a record of ten wins and one loss, Bonn is first thanks to the better point difference.
The guests balanced the game for 18 minutes, by then the Berliners had already lost the ball ten times. But in the last 97 seconds before the break, the hosts pulled away with a 10-0 run. The reigning champions controlled the game in the second half, six minutes before the end the hosts were 20 points behind for the first time. National basketball player Johannes Thiemann scored each of his 13 points in the first half and didn’t miss a shot.
Bayern also score
The FC Bayern Munich basketball team clinched their tenth win in their twelfth game of the season late on Tuesday evening. In front of almost 10,500 spectators in Mannheim’s SAP Arena, Munich won in a hard-fought game 87:83 (50:51) against the MLP Academics Heidelberg. Bayern remain third in the table, but only have one more defeat than leaders Telekom Baskets Bonn and second place Alba Berlin.
In the first three quarters, no team was able to pull away by more than five points. That changed in the final section, which the guests opened with a 9-0 run. A little later, Munich didn’t allow a goal from the field for five minutes, so Heidelberg couldn’t turn the game around. Basketball international Isaac Bonga led Bayern with 21 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
The Academics actually play their home games in the SNP dome in Heidelberg, but moved to the SAP Arena in Mannheim for the game against Munich, where the first division ice hockey team Adler Mannheim and the first division handball team Rhein-Neckar Löwen play. Bayern had to play without their sick head coach Andrea Trinchieri, who was replaced by assistant coach Adriano Vertemati.
Also in the late evening the giants defeated Ludwigsburg Ulm with 87:84 (43:42). Ludwigsburg’s Isaiah Whitehead was once again the top scorer of the game with 21 points.
Calles celebrates successful return to Hamburg
Meanwhile, the EWE Baskets Oldenburg are exacerbating the crisis at the Veolia Towers Hamburg. With a 96:95 (53:47) away win, the Lower Saxony inflicted the sixth defeat in a row on Hamburg. DeWayne Russell hit an attempt at the line four seconds from time, with Trey Drechsel leading the visitors by 27 points.
Oldenburg coach Pedro Calles celebrated a successful return to Hamburg, where the Spaniard had trained for the past two seasons. Calles’ successor at the Towers Raoul Korner was absent due to illness, with the actual assistant coach Benka Barloschky standing on the sidelines for him.