The Telekom Baskets Bonn achieved their fourth win of the season. On Saturday evening they had the upper hand in a close game against Ulm with 81:79 (41:39).
After the Baskets’ home defeat against Alba Berlin (70:84) on the last matchday, the Telekom Dome’s goal was to avoid losing further ground in the table against the Ulm team with the same number of points. The Ulm team, who were able to celebrate again during the week after five competitive defeats in the Eurocup against the London Lions (87:86), got off to a better start in Bonn with seven points in the first minute.
Bonn is unsuccessfully chasing after the deficit
The Rhinelanders got into the game a little better after Joel Aminu’s successful three-point throw at 5:11 (3rd minute), but chased the deficit largely unsuccessfully until the end of the first quarter. However, after Alijah Comithier made it 19:24 (10th minute), the guests did not take advantage of their last chance to throw.
Now, as we all know, a five-point deficit isn’t something basketball players worry about too much. It’s no different for Bonn – they had 23 seconds in the second half to equalize 28:28 (13th) thanks to a “three” from Tylan Birts and a dunking after a pass from Grayson Murphy. Nelson Weidemann and Diego Garavaglia countered with two three-pointers for Ulm, which made Baskets head coach Marko Stankovic a little louder when he immediately took a timeout (15th).
Michael Kessens is suspected concussion out of
Aminu made up for his coach in the same minute with the next Bonn “three” to make it 31:34. The Baskets were now at operating temperature and even had the chance to take the lead for the first time through Melvin Jostmann when he received two free throws. However, he missed the second one (16th). The first lead was taken when Alijah Comithier sank a long-range shot to make it 39:37 (18th). The Rhinelanders took this two-point lead into the break with a 41:39 lead after a strong quarter. The downside was that Michael Kessens was injured in the second quarter and was taken to the hospital with a suspected concussion.
The guests were also unlucky with injuries, as they lost their best scorer (10 points) of the first half in Christopher Ledlum in the last action before the break. The shock of this seemed to be a little deeper – the Bonn team got off to a better start with an 8-1 run. That didn’t give them any security, as the Ulm team came back to equalize 51:51 with an 11:2 run (25th).
Alijah Comithier scores the victory in the final second
With changing leads, Ulm had the better end and changed sides for the last time with a 60:59 lead. The two teams continued to be on equal terms through the last quarter, with a maximum gap of three points. When the score was 70:70 in the 35th minute, it became apparent that the decision could be made from the free throw line after the foul limit had been exceeded. Birts seemed to have something against that and sank his “three-pointer” to make it 75:72 (37th).
Ulm initially had nothing going beyond the three-point line in the final phase until Nelson Weidemann scored three points with 43 seconds left to make it 77:77. After another Bonn timeout, Murphy took responsibility, dibbled into the zone under the basket and made it 79:77. Ulm now had 26 seconds to respond. Tobias Jensen did just as well as Murphy – 79:79. The Baskets played the remaining 21 seconds consistently and actually scored the winning goal after a throw-in by Comithier in the final second – 81:79.
Regardless of the game against Ulm, the Bonn team is currently exploring the player market as Jonathan Bähre will be absent from the team for a longer period of time. The 29-year-old underwent arthroscopic surgery on Thursday due to persistent problems in his left knee and will be out for at least six weeks, according to the club. “This is equally frustrating for Jonathan and us. He played a really good pre-season, but was then repeatedly slowed down by his knee problems,” says Baskets sports director Savo Milovic.
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