

ratiopharm Ulm used a 91-71 victory over U-BT Cluj-Napoca to clinch third place in Group A of the 7DAYS EuroCup. The hosts were excellent behind the arc, looked superior from start to finish and sealed home-court advantage for the eightfinals Following Wednesday’s victory at ratiopharm Arena, Ulm improved to 11-7, while Cluj dropped to 5-13.
All of Ulm's players got their names on the scoresheet, with Brandon Paul leading his team with 16 points. Yago dos Santos added 14 and recorded 7 assists. Thomas Klepeisz had 12, while Bruno Caboclo paired his 8 points with 10 rebounds. Leonardo Meindl and Andrija Stipanovic netted 12 points each for Cluj, with Nandor Kuti and Kasey Shepherd scoring 11 apiece.
Ulm started strong from behind the arc, with Caboclo, Klepeisz and Brandon Paul sinking a triple each for a 9-2 lead. Robin Christen nailed another one off the bench to stretch the hosts’ lead to double digits, 20-10, but Jones scored 5 straight points to bring Cluj within 20-15. As many as eight Ulm players scored at least one point in the first 10 minutes and their team headed into the second quarter 23-15 up.
Karim Jallow nailed a shot from the perimeter and Fedor Zugic added another 2 for a 34-17 Ulm lead. Cluj head coach Mihai Silvasan was forced to call a timeout and his team responded, as Kuti helped the visitors cut the deficit to 35-24. Yet, Philipp Herkenhoff scored his first points of the night and Paul took his tally to 8 as Ulm secured a 45-32 lead before the break.
Stipanovic scored his fifth two-pointer in the game to move to double digits just after the interval and Kuti added another 2 points to his name to trim down the deficit to 45-36. However, Klepeisz fired back-to-back triples and Dos Santos sank his first three-pointer of the night for a 59-43 Ulm lead. Then, 3 Shepherd points and a Jones layup helped Cluj to get the difference down to 60-50.
Ulm hit the ground running in the last quarter, with Paul scoring twice behind the arc to inspire the hosts to an 8-0 run, 75-59. Cluj didn’t give up, as Meindl brought his team within 77-66, but Robin Christen and Dos Santos nailed a triple each for an Ulm 83-66 advantage to practically put the game to bed for the hosts’ 11th win in the regular season.