AUDIO: Hamburg Towers end losing streak against Alba Berlin (1 min)
As of: December 15, 2025 11:24 a.m
Pure relief at the Hamburg Towers! After almost eight months without a win and 24 competitive game defeats in a row, the Bundesliga basketball team has broken the spell and ended its horror series. The Towers celebrated a 99:80 (49:38) victory against the BBL top team Alba Berlin.
“It’s almost a bit surreal,” said coach Benka Barloschky, referring to his team’s long losing streak. “Now the relief prevails, something is really falling away.”
Of all things, his team achieved the long-awaited breakthrough against the huge favorites from Berlin. The Hamburg team, who had moved from the Inselpark Arena to the Barclays Arena at Volkspark for the game, deservedly won in front of 7,737 spectators and thus ended the impressive series of the guests, who had previously been victorious in eleven competitive games in a row.
Large arena “releases special energy”
The Towers also achieved their last victory in the big arena when they brought Bayern Munich to their knees on April 20th. “The backdrop is simply amazing, it also releases a special energy,” explained Barloschky.
Rich injured again
Before the game, however, the Towers had received some bad news. Osaro Rich, who was out for more than two months after a fracture in his right upper arm, has to take another break shortly after his comeback due to a broken finger. However, the Hamburg team initially appeared unimpressed by the personnel setback. In fact, the team offered probably the best first half of the season and even led with a well-deserved 38:24 in the middle of the second quarter.
Thorpe shines with 28 points
The first minutes after the break belonged to Leonard Thorpe, who scored the first nine points for his team and played a key role in ensuring that the Towers continued to keep the guests at bay. And it stayed that way because this time the Hanseatic League showed hardly any weaknesses until the end and, in particular, consistently used their free throws in the last few minutes. The hosts’ best thrower was Thorpe, who scored 28 points.
Barloschky: Gives the team “security”
“We played very focused and disciplined the whole time, that was the most important thing,” said Barloschky, who immediately looked forward again. “The feeling is of course crazy, the team gains new confidence and security. But now this is a game, a win, nothing more,” said the Towers coach. “On Wednesday or at the weekend no one can buy anything anymore. Then it starts all over again.”
Then the BBL’s second-to-last in the Europe Cup has a home game against Aris Thessaloniki before heading to Heidelberg in the league on Sunday (3 p.m.).
