The hosts give up just 7 points to Ulm in the period and roll to a fifth straight win
Aggressive third-quarter defense helped Buducnost beat Ulm, extend winning streak
Game Report
3 Mins read
Regular Season
Round 8 of 18
Regular Season
group b
Buducnost VOLI PodgoricaBUD
10171
ratiopharm ulmULM
group b
Overview
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Those wondering how Buducnost VOLI Podgorica beat ratiopharm ulm in Round 8 at home really only need to look at the dominant third quarter. The other clear factor was a strong balanced attack to keep both teams’ rolls going.
Buducnost allowed only 7 points in the third quarter and coasted to a 101-71 victory over Ulm to secure its fifth straight win and a 6-2 record in the upper echelons of Group B. Ulm crashed to another big loss - its third in the last four games for a 4-4 mark - and is left looking for answers.
“Congrats to the guys. We wanted to continue our winning streak in the EuroCup and this is now the fifth one in a row. This is not easy to achieve, but we are playing well at the beginning of the season. We played a good game and deserve to win,” said Buducnost coach Andrej Zakelj.
The Montenegro team had five players score in double figures - topped by Rasheed Sulaimon’s 19 points - 16 of them coming in the first half. Oleksandr Kovliar added 13 points and 4 assists and Nikola Tanaskovic, Yogi Ferrell and Skylar Mays all had 11 points.
“We wanted to come out aggressive. It was a true balanced team win. I am super proud of our guys. We wanted to make sure that we play aggressive and play together and make smart players. And we’re excited about the outcome,” said Mays, who also chipped in 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals.
After nine lead changes in the first 10 minutes, Buducnost surged ahead by 12 points by midway through the second quarter and was up 53-44 at the break.
The hosts used the long ball for a 26-5 run to start the second half for a 30-point lead late in the third quarter, and that decided the game. Ulm fought back a bit in the final frame, trimming the margin to 20 points, but Zakelj was never nervous.
"In the first half, we were not tough enough and gave them some easy shots. In the third quarter, we started to play better defense and more aggressive. We secured the win in the third quarter,” said the coach.
Zakelj’s team dished out 21 assists; out-rebounded Ulm 39-24; and buried 14 of 24 three-pointers (58.3%). Buducnost turned 11 offensive rebounds into 18 second-chance points and created 24 points off Ulm’s 14 turnovers.
Ulm coach Ty Harrelson was happy with the competitive nature of his young team, but once again, he saw a nightmare third quarter.
“It was a tough third quarter and we couldn’t find a way to score. We were dominated on the rebounds the entire game. We still have a lot of work to do. I actually think we played a pretty good first half, but we still found ourselves down by 9. We’re going to have to find solutions to score when we are in regular action, not after timeouts,” said the coach, whose team only had 5 points in the third quarter of the 32-point blowout home loss in Round 7 to Cosea JL Bourg-en-Bresse.
One of the few bright spots for Ulm was 21-year-old guard Tobias Jensen, who had 15 points and a career high 11 assists while committing only 1 turnover in 30 minutes.
“I think Tobias Jensen really played a fantastic game. We really needed him on the court for 40 minutes. I don’t know if that’s realistic though,” Harrelson said. “In a game we lose by 30, he was only -7 in plus-minus. When he was in there, we were competitive, but when he wasn’t, we were not.”
