Smith put back a missed layup just before the buzzer to win it
Mark Smith game-winner keeps Ulm’s playoff chances alive, eliminates London
Ανάλυση αγώνα
3 Χρόνος Ανάγνωσης
Regular Season
Round 15 of 18
Regular Season
group b
London LionsLDN
7273
ratiopharm ulmULM
group b
Overview
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ratiopharm ulm remains alive in the race for the playoffs after capturing a hard-fought, thrilling 72-73 victory at London Lions with Mark Smith delivering the game-winner at the buzzer.
Ulm appeared to have the stack decked against it but came back on the final possession as Smith put back a missed layup by Christian Sengfelder to give Ulm back-to-back wins and a 7-8 record in Group B.
Sengfelder paced the winners with 23 points and 7 rebounds, Chris Ledlum and Tobias Jensen had 11 points and Smith finished with 6 points.
“We were just staying together. Keep fighting, try to tough it out. In the end we are very happy that we got the win here,” said Sengfelder, who set a new career high with his scoring output.
Ulm head coach Ty Harrelson was full of praise for the German big man, saying: “Today was one of his better performances when we needed it the most. It was pretty clear that we would need to win to stay in the playoffs.”
Four points was the biggest lead in the first quarter, which ended with Ulm ahead 18-19. The guests pushed the advantage to a game-high 9 points midway through the second quarter. And Ulm went into the break up 32-36.
London finally was able to tie the game on a big dunk from Tarik Phillip at 42-42. But Ulm remained in front and finished the third quarter with a 45-51 cushion.
London broke through and edged ahead 55-53 and after Ulm reclaimed the lead, Phillip made three straight baskets for a 64-61 edge with under 3 minutes to play. Ulm answered every punch and Ledlum put the guests up 69-70 with a three-point play with 25 seconds to play.
After Phillip responded with a three-pointer, Ledlum could make only 1 of 2 free throws and London’s Shavar Reynolds missed both of his free throws with 6.0 seconds to play. That set up the game-winner.
London has now been eliminated from playoff contention at 5-10 with four straight losses. Phillip poured in 19 points and 5 assists while Deane Williams had 14 points and Reynolds added 13 points and 5 assists.
Ulm’s coach Harrelson was impressed with Phillip’s showing.
“I think Tarik Phillip was amazing for London. We really struggled to stop him. He made what looked like the game-winning shot in the final moments,” he said. “He was amazing in the fourth quarter - one of the best performances I have seen this EuroCup season.”
London’s biggest problem against Ulm was one of its biggest problems all season - free throws. Lions converted just 14 of 28 from the line (50%). The team ranked dead last coming into the game from the charity stripe at 65.2%. Reynolds made 4 of 8, which was surprising considering he came into the game shooting 85.7% for the season.
“It’s self-explanatory when you make 14 free throws from 28 that it’s hard to win a basketball game. But my guys fought,” said London head coach Tautvydas Sabonis.
“With all the injuries we have, we stayed in the game, we made a run. In a game like this, every possession matters and we let them come back with our mental mistakes.”
