Crailsheim – Oldenburg 97:86 (31:17, 22:24, 19:14, 25:31)
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Crailsheim: Shorts II (24), Lewis (15), Savage (7), Stuckey (15), A. Kovacevic (1), Lasisi (8), Bleck (4), Kindzeka, D. Kovacevic (7), Radosavljevic (9) ), Gumundsson (3), Aririguzoh (5).
Finally home game weekend again in the Ilshofen bullring. After three long weeks, the Merlins Crailsheim received a league competitor on the home floor for the first time since the 81:76 win over leaders Bonn. Opponents were EWE Baskets from Oldenburg, who had had a turbulent few weeks before the game: only two wins from eleven league games and they have been stuck bottom of the table since mid-November. Then during the week the dismissal of head coach Mladen Drijencic. His previous assistant coach Alen Abaz stood in Ilshofen as the new head coach on the sidelines. The magicians, on the other hand, wanted to continue to build on their strong home record of seven wins in a row so far and, after two defeats in competitive games in a row, want to come off the floor as winners again. The game began with a lightning start from the home side, who already pulled away with 14 points in the first quarter and maintained this lead beyond the first half until the end of the match. The 97:86 success was never in jeopardy. In addition to top scorer TJ Shorts, Jaren Lewis also managed a double-double.
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Sebastian Gleim, coach of the Crailsheim team, was happy: “Of course we are very happy about this success here in Crailsheim after a long break at home. It’s kind of addicting to play here. That’s why it was great to be back here and above all with this presence and energy. It can always go in two directions when you’ve had a break: you’re a bit sleepy or you’re wide awake. We managed to be wide awake again. And above all, what makes me happy as a coach: We really made a step forward through these training days that we had. We probably played one of the strongest games today offensively. A little special praise also to Dejan, who is probably one of the best teammates you can imagine. He also had his moments today, which he always works hard for in training. That is what characterizes the game today, because everyone has made their contribution to it.”
Actually, the Merlins should have played again on Wednesday. But due to several corona cases in the Unahotels Reggio Emilia team, the game in the Fiba Europe Cup had to be postponed. jkh
