The German side protected its home court with a hard-fought triumph.
Ulm makes winning start after holding off plucky Trento, 80-70

German League champion ratiopharm Ulm ground out an 80-70 home victory against Dolomiti Energia Trento to get its BKT EuroCup Group B campaign off to a winning start, thanks to superb offensive rebounding coupled with a flurry of turnovers from the visitors.
Dakota Mathias paced the home team with 18 points, towering center Trevion Williams racked up 13 points and 16 rebounds, while Georginho De Paula chipped in with 11 first-half points. At the other end, Davide Alviti netted all his 15 points for Trento beyond the three-point arc, having sank 5 of 6 attempts from downtown. Andrejs Grazulis added 14 points, Kamar Baldwin scored 11 and Prentiss Hub amassed 10.
Game Leaders
How the game played out
It looked like Ulm was in for plain sailing after racing into an 8-0 lead on the back of a couple of three-pointers from its 19-year-old Spanish guard Juan Nunez, but Trento hit back with a 13-2 run which put the visiting team in the driving seat for much of the first half.
Both teams played in fits and starts as Ulm missed its next 10 shots from three-point range while Trento kept turning the ball over. Still, the Italian side was able to carve out a 30-35 lead in the closing stages of the first half before De Paula turned the tables with some fine individual skill, enabling Ulm to lead 42-38 at halftime.
Trento had committed a staggering 14 turnovers in the opening half and the trend continued after the break, as the visitors had 21 by the end of the third quarter. Those struggles allowed Ulm to lead 60-54 ahead of the final 10 minutes, despite blowing hot and cold on offense itself.
The two teams traded a flurry of three-pointers early in the fourth quarter and after Mathias made a four-point play to keep Ulm ahead, the home side engineered a decisive 11-4 run to open up a 77-66 lead in the closing stages. Trento battled hard to stay in the game but there was no way back for the Italian team, who did not have enough left in the tank to force late drama.