TAYLORHOOPS.COM ULM UPDATE
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ratiopharm Ulm Wins in Dornbirn Austria
Three days after overwhelming a shorthanded Dornbirn team 117-31 in Sportszentrum Kuhberg, ratiopharm Ulm ventured south to Austria for round two in Tuesday evening's preseason home-and-home rematch against the Lions. Playing on the road for the first time this year, ratiopharm Ulm responded well in earning a strong 118-63 victory.
Inside the Huddle : Ulm has executed on a high level early in the preseason.
Ulm made significant progress in their execution on both ends of the floor and took important steps in playing the team's defensive system. American guard Jonathan Levy led Ulm scoring with 24 points while point guard Christian Grosse added 22. Grosse demonstrated excellent leadership running the team and continues to improve his point guard play this preseason. Jeff Gibbs posted 16 points while Center Maksym Shtein and small forward Emeka Erege produced 15 apiece. Forward Florian Mobius also enjoyed a quality performance reaching double figures with 12. Young guard Benni Gulde took advantage of his opportunity to play in the regular rotation as he replaced injured Jan Sprunken who was held out of action for precautionary measures with a minor injury. Gulde defended well, executed perfectly and came up with loose balls and rebounds while scoring a solid 9 points in the win. Ulm big men shot the ball extremely well from the perimter including drilling several treys.
Coaching perspective
Jumping out to a lead, Ulm outscored the Lions 31-16 in the first quarter. Christian Grosse hit several momentum building jumpshots while Jeff Gibbs powered his way in the paint for baskets inside. Ulm bench players Florian Mobius and Benni Gulde filled in well when Maksym Shtein and Emeka Erege picked up two early fouls. Erege returned to spark a critical Ulm run in the second quarter. Running the floor, crashing the offensive boards and scoring effectively inside, Erege converted two three point plays in Ulm's 33-18 second quarter.
With a 64-34 halftime advantage, the Ulm coaching staff challenged the team to stay focused and concentrate defensively by giving them the goal of limiting the Lions to 30 points in the second half. Showing signs of strong chemistry and excellent team work, Ulm achieved their goal outscoring Dornbirn 54-29 in the second half to earn the win including holding the home team to a mere 9 points in the fourth quarter.
Power forward Jeff Gibbs studies the game from the bench. Gibbs was a force in the paint against the Lions.
While Ulm made progress, Dornbirn also improved in the rematch. Adding US center Wendell Gibson certainly improved their team. Gibson, who stepped almost immediately off the plane into the Dornbirn gym, scored effectively inside providing the Lions with a strong, physical post presence in the paint which will help them this season. Lion players made a good run in the third quarter competitively working on both ends of the floor. In his first season with Dornbirn, experienced Head Coach John Dieckelman did a fine job of guiding his inexperienced team showing his players how to improve. Over the two preseason games, the Lions raised their level of play and could take much from the meetings.
ratiopharm Ulm returns to action Saturday evening in the annual Soflingen KUSS game which welcomes 2.Bundesliga South rival FCK.1 Kaiserslautern to TSG Soflingen. Played at the site of Ulm's daily lifting and shooting workouts, Soflingen KUSS is a celebration of the sports club while emphasizing healthy lifestyles.
Follow all the fast breaking ratiopharm Ulm basketball action all season long on Taylorhoops.com!
GO ULM!
MIKE T
ratiopharm Ulm 118 Dornbirn Lions 63
Ulm scoring:
Levy (24), Gulde (9), Grosse (22), Erege (15), Gibbs (16), Sivorotka (4), Möbius (12), Shtein (15), Friede.
Sprunken (DNP)
Score by quarters:
1 2 H 3 4 F
Ulm 31 33 64 118
Dornbirn 16 18 34 20 9 63
