Ludwigsburg. James Woodard was injured for a long time. Since the beginning of December, the guard has finally been able to play for the MHP giants in Ludwigsburg and has already shown some of his class. How much is really in the 27-year-old could be seen on Monday evening. The American contributed 28 points to the Swabian Bundesliga team’s 88-81 win over Brose Bamberg, leading the giants to victory despite a mixed performance. “I’m slowly getting into my rhythm,” he said after the game at Magenta Sport.
Opportunities not used at the beginning
Ludwigsburg showed consistent defensive work from the start and forced Bamberg to lose a few balls. The strong Woodard with a three-pointer and a three-point game in a row gave the guests a 17:6 lead (5th minute of the game). Bamberg made mistakes, but still scored well. So the Ludwigsburg team didn’t manage to set themselves apart clearly early on.
With the score at 19:25, the second round started – with a furious start from the giants. First Jonah Radebaugh, then Tremmell Darden scored from distance to make it 31:19, shortly afterwards Hulls added the 34:21.
But Bamberg remained dangerous and didn’t let down. Because the giants continued to drop easy points and their defensive performance also waned as the game progressed, the Bamberg team closed the gap to 44:47 before half-time. The seconds before the change of sides were particularly turbulent, when two wild threesomes found their way through the trap on both sides.
At the beginning of the second half, the giants had to accept the 47:47 equalization and even fell behind for the first time. Only an 8:0 run with two threes from Woodard and Hulls and a goal from Simon to make it 58:51 gave the giants some breathing room again. But it remained exciting. Ludwigsburg stayed in the game mainly because of the strong three-way quota. Hulls proved this again with a score of 65:57 in the 27th minute. By the final quarter, the Franconians came up to 63:67.
In the final round it was a close affair. Neither team could pull away. With two minutes left, things didn’t look too good for the Swabians. First playmaker Radebaugh had to leave the field after his fifth foul, then Bamberg equalized 81:81.
But led by the outstanding Woodard, Ludwigsburg didn’t allow any more points. Woodard himself contributed four more points, Simon completed the game with a converted free throw to make it 88:81.
