By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Alba Berlin continued its undefeated seven-game run in the German League Final Tournament by logging a convincing 92-63 win over EWE Baskets Oldenburg in Game 1 of the semifinals.
Peyton Siva led the charge with 19 points while Marcus Eriksson followed with 17 and Martin Hermannsson with 11 points. Luke Sikma logged a double-double with 11 points and ten rebounds.
“We are very happy. We played with good intensity the whole game. We played good defense. We hustled and we managed to get a lot of loose balls and rebounds.”We still want to play our game. We will think it’s 0-0 when we go into the 2nd game and try to do our best. Against Göttingen, we relaxed a little bit and we don’t want that to happen again,” Eriksson said after the game.
For Oldenburg, Rasid Mahalbasic notched game-high 23 points along with nine boards while Nathan Boothe added 17.
“I think we reached our maximum. The tournament was new for us. We prepared well. Alba was definitely the better team. Including the bench, they all played and all performed. And we just slept through it all today. You can’t really say that much more,” Mahalabasic noted.
Game 2 between the two squads is scheduled in two days, on Wednesday (June 24), while Ratiopharm Ulm and MHP RIESEN Ludwigsburg will decide the first finalist tomorrow (Game 1 was a draw at 71).