By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Alba Berlin continued with a perfect tournament in Germany. They’ve been undefeated until the Final and it stayed that way in Game 1 against MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg, logging a convincing 88-65 win.
Rokas Giedraitis and Martin Hermannsson both scored 14 points for the victors while Landry Nnoko, Marcus Eriksson, and Niels Giffey added 12 each. Peyton Siva and Luke Sikma both logged ten points.
On the other side, Ludwigsburg just couldn’t find a solution to get past Alba’s defense and it showed in the stats. Nick Weiler-Babb and Jonas Wohlfarth-Bottermann scored 11 points each while the squad logged a total of 19 turnovers.
It should be noted that Ludwigsburg played without a key piece in Marcos Knight. Per David Hein, head coach John Patrick said that Knight got injured in the second game of the tournament and then was more seriously injured in Game 2 of the semifinals. He could barely walk in the hotel afterward.
Alba was in control from start to finish as they were up by 19-13 after ten minutes and by a 17-point margin at halftime (46-29). They left nothing to chance, leading by as much as 30 points (67-37) but Ludwigsburg did manage to cut some of it in the final period, giving themselves some fighting chance in front of Game 2.
Game 2 is scheduled for Sunday, June 28, and Ludwigsburg’s squad will have a near-impossible task ahead of them to overcome the deficit from tonight.