Telekom Baskets Bonn lost the first final game against ratiopharm Ulm. It was Bonn’s first defeat after 25 league wins in a row.
Head coach Tuomas Iisalo’s team lost 73:79 (35:42) in their own hall on Friday evening and is under pressure in the second game of the “Best of five” series on Sunday (6 p.m.).
League MVP TJ Shorts scored 20 points for Bonn, while the best thrower for the guests was Yago Mateus dos Santos with 19 points. “We had too many phases in which we were a step too slow,” said Iisalo on “MagentaSport”.
Intense first quarter – Morgan and shorts strong
From the start, the game had a high intensity in the sold-out arena with 6,000 spectators. After 41 seconds, Bonn’s Jeremy Morgan scored the first points of the game with a three. Ulm was initially the more efficient team from the field, Robin Christen scored from the three-point line to make it 12:7 for the guests.
But Bonn played his game and, as usual, was strong in offensive rebounding. Morgan also hit his second three and equalized after six and a half minutes to 13:13. In the final minutes of the first quarter, both teams made a lot of mistakes. Baskets playmaker TJ Shorts II, who was tackled hard by Ulm’s defence, scored the points to make it 20:20 with a layup just before the siren. Shorts and Morgan scored 18 of Bonn’s 20 points.
Bonn doesn’t really get going offensively
It was tight in the second period, both sides defended hard, Ulm collected a lot of fouls. Brandon Paul hit two straight threes from the left corner to give Ulm a 31-26 lead six minutes before half-time. After an unsportsmanlike foul by Ulm’s Thomas Klepeisz, the Baskets equalized with two free throws by Tyson Ward and a three-pointer by Sebastian Herrera (31:31).
But then Juan Nunez with five points and Joshua Hawley with a dunking put Ulm in the lead with seven points (31:38). Baskets coach Iisalo took a break, but his team didn’t really get going offensively: Bonn only managed a rate of 30 percent from the field in the first half. After a lay-up by Philipp Herkenhoff, the guests led by two figures for the first time (31:41) and took a seven-point lead (35:42) into the break.
Bonn increases after the break
Even after the break things didn’t go well for Bonn at first, Ulm quickly pulled ahead to eleven points (37:48). But the baskets shifted up a gear, became more accurate and defended better. Herrera (3 points) and Deane Williams (4) brought the home side back to two points (46:48). Before the final section, Bonn was 52:55 behind.
After a minute, Ward started the last quarter with a successful three-pointer and equalized to 55:55. Both teams then hardly had any successful throws before Klepeisz scored 63:57 for Ulm. Yago extended the lead to nine points (59:68).
Bonn immediately countered Ulm’s small run with Hawkins and Morgan, who hit two threes in a row (65:68). Morgan reduced it to one point with a dunking (67:68). 62 seconds before the end, Shorts equalized again from the free-throw line (73:73). Brandon Paul answered for Ulm with a wide three pointer, on the other side Shorts missed the three pointer, Yago added two more points with a free throw.
Bonn and Ulm have never been champions
This season there will be a new German champion for many years. After Oldenburg’s victory in 2009, either Bamberg, Munich or Berlin have always won the title. Bamberg did not make it into the playoffs this season, Munich and Berlin failed in the first two rounds. For Bonn and Ulm it would be the first German championship. Bonn is five times runner-up, Ulm three times.
It would be the second title this season for Bonn. By winning the Champions League in May, the Baskets had celebrated their greatest success in the club’s history. No German club has ever achieved a double of a national championship and an international title.
