Ulm routs Bourg on the road, 78-85

ratiopharm Ulm pulled out a valuable win from the Ekinox when it defeated JL Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse 78-86 on Wednesday evening. The visitors set the basis for the victory in the second quarter when they outscored their opponents 1-19 in the last 7 minutes before halftime. Ulm then resisted all Bourg comeback attempts after the break. Ulm improved to 10-7 and will try to secure the home-court advantage for the next stage next week, while Bourg slipped to 8-9 with its sixth loss in a row.
Karim Jallow and Bruno Caboclo paced the winners with 16 points apiece, leading five Ulm scorers in double digits. Joshua Hawley tallied 15 points, 6 boards and 5 steals, Juan Nunez went for 15 points and 5 assists, and Yago Dos Santos finished with 12 and 5. James Palmer Jr. led Bourg with 22 points and 7 rebounds in 27 minutes, followed by Isiaha Mike and Kevin Koila, who provided 12 and 10 points, respectively, in the losing effort.
Caboclo became the go-to guy for Ulm in the early going, getting 7 quick points that granted an 8-9 edge to the visitors. The game was back and forth from then on, with both squads swapping leads on each possession. Caboclo kept hurting the home team from the inside, and when Dos Santos joined him from the perimeter, Ulm managed to race towards a 16-23 advantage. Palmer came to the rescue, but his effort didn’t prevent Ulm from finishing the first period leading 24-27.
Pierre Pelos and Maxime Courby nailed back-to-back triples that capped the rally, 30-27, early in the second, but Ulm reacted quickly thanks to Hawley and Jallow, who combined for 10 points in 3 minutes to return a 34-37 margin for the visitors. Despite Caboclo having to head the bench with 3 fouls, Ulm didn’t stop. Paul and Nunez drilled one three each to make it a double-digit margin, 35-45. Even though Bourg stopped the game to try to regroup, the visitors exploited Bourg’s turnovers and missed shots to extend the margin even more, 35-54, at halftime.
Game Videos
The home team didn’t want to let the game end so early and came out strong to start a 6-0 run that forced Ulm to call a timeout after only 80 seconds. The break didn’t stop Bourg’s momentum, though, as Hugo Benitez showed up from deep and Kokila drew an unsportsmanlike foul that reduced the distance to single-digits, 49-58, midway through the third quarter. The rally didn’t go further, however, as Ulm found some offensive production from Nunez and Caboclo to cool it down, 52-65. Caboclo’s fourth foul ignited Bourg, which went for a 7-0 run behind a three-point play by Courby and a three by Frantz Massenat to enter the last stanza down 59-65.
Axel Julian made it even tighter, 62-67, with 8 minutes remaining. Ulm decided to return Caboclo to the court and he immediately produced a triple and grabbed a rebound that gave the confidence back to the visitors. Nunez followed with a three-point play and Hawley finished a fastbreak with a dunk to make it a double-digit lead again, 62-75. Bourg had not said its last word yet, as Palmer took the reins on offense for Bourg, and Mike converted twice from the line to establish a 70-77 score entering crunch time. Jordan Floyd made it 74-80 with an acrobatic layup, then stole a ball, but his three-point attempt went in and out and he committed an unsportsmanlike foul that put the game to bed.