Once again, the German team's two young stars rose to the occasion
The kids are alright in Ulm
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Noa Essengue and Ben Saraf once again played a big role in ratiopharm Ulm's 80-82 victory over Hapoel Shlomo Tel Aviv in Round 9.
It was a special game at Samokov, Bulgaria, as Dimitris Itoudis returned to the BKT EuroCup after coaching Banvit Bandirma in the 2013-14 campaign. After that, he went on to coach CSKA Moscow and win two Turkish Airlines EuroLeague championships in 2016 and 2019, and also worked for Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul. Itoudis did not have the EuroCup return he wished, as Essengue and Saraf made sure Ulm competed until the end.
Hapoel seemed to have the game under control, leading 73-64 early in the fourth quarter. Essengue stepped up for Ulm and got plenty of help from Justinian Jessup to bring Ulm within 77-76. Marcus Foster took over with a three-point play, Alfonso Plummer erased that with a bomb from downtown and with the game on the line, Saraf took matters into his own hands.
Saraf used a wild spin move to go past Tomer Ginat and generate the space he needed to get a comfortable shot, which he hit to put Ulm ahead for good, 80-81, with 1:20 remaining. Essengue sealed the outcome from the foul line, missing his second attempt on purpose with 1.6 seconds left to run the game clock down.
When the dust settled, Essengue had recorded yet another outstanding all-around performance, finishing the game with 19 points on 11 of 14 free throws, 5 rebounds, an assist, 2 steals, no turnovers, 2 blocks and 9 fouls drawn for a game-high PIR of 26. A month before his 18th birthday, Essengue averages 13.8 points, 5.2 rebounds, 0.9 blocks and a PIR of 18.0 in 9 games this season.
"I think we played really well. We played well together. We did some good stuff at the end of the game, that clutch shot from Ben [Saraf], and we played our game." Essengue said after the game. "I think that's a good win because we played against a very talented team, and we needed this win to go up in the standings."
Saraf, who turned 18 last April, also did a little bit of everything. Added to hitting the go-ahead shot, Saraf had 5 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals in 18 minutes.
"We had some mistakes defensively and a lot of foul trouble. We put them on the line quite a few times, so during halftime we talked about that a little bit. We can't give up 28 points in a quarter on the road and expect to win the game," Ulm head coach Ty Harrelson said after the game. "We just need to have the same intensity on defense that we had in the third and fourth quarters."
Indeed, Ulm went from allowing 48 points in the first half to just 32 after the break. Ulm finished the game with 5 blocks, 9 steals and above all, 23 offensive rebounds, a new EuroCup club record. Its previous best mark were 21 offensive rebounds in a 77-85 home loss against FoxTown Cantu on February 19, 2014. Hapoel had a higher PIR than Ulm, 97-90, but the guests returned home with a big victory.