It all came together for ratiopharm Ulm in the third quarter on Wednesday as it completed a 17-point comeback to eventually defeat Buducnost VOLI Podgorica 92-83 and advance to the 7DAYS EuroCup Quarterfinals.
The game had been completely in the visitors' control as Buducnost led by 16 after 10 minutes, pushed it to 16-33 on the first shot of the second quarter, and still held an 11-point cushion at halftime.
Until that point, Ulm had been held together by Fedor Zugic, whose 14 first-half points accounted for a third of his team's tally. Zugic, a 19-year-old from Montenegro who began his professional career with Buducnost, stung his former team with those points without missing a single shot in his 11 first-half minutes.
Ulm was going to need help from more players to get back in the game, however. That effort started on defense and led to a tag-team approach on offense with Yago Dos Santos, Juan Nunez, Brandon Paul and Bruno Caboclo each carrying the team for stretches as Ulm stormed back into the game.
"We allowed only 9 points in the third quarter, which gave us the chance to hope, and I think then offensively it just came because we started playing defense," Ulm head coach Anton Gavel said in the post-game press conference. "We were capable of going out on transition after a couple of stops and created a couple of good looks for our shooters, especially for Brandon [Paul], and then it was easier life for us once we started playing defense. It took us 20 minutes, but we made it happen."
After Caboclo and Philipp Herkenoff scored Ulm's first 4 points of the second half, a triple by Dos Santos opened things up. He later set up Paul for a three-pointer and drove for another bucket, igniting a 17-2 run. Another Dos Santos assist to Paul, this time at the basket, got Ulm within 1. Thomas Klepeisz completed the comeback with a three-point runner off one leg at 61-59.