By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
The first German derby of the season went down in Berlin and FC Bayern Munich prevailed over ALBA with an 82-69 victory in Round 7 of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague. Bayern did not break the tradition, as they grabbed their fourth victory in respective EuroLeague meetings against their German League rivals.
Darrun Hilliard was hot and had a key contribution for Bayern in this victory, as he left the game with 25 points and 6 rebounds in 30 minutes.
“We just wanted it more. Coach came into the locker room and told us it’s a great opportunity for us – go seize it. It was a great opportunity“, he said post-game.
Andrea Trinchieri’s squad also got 13 points and 8 rebounds from Othello Hunter. The visitors grabbed their second victory of the week and their third in a row to move up to a 3-4 record in the standings.
Coach Trinchieri highlighted the fatigue factor in his post-game quotes, following the win. “It was an ugly game. It’s always like that in back-to-backs. You are drained from the first game. You have to travel and play – for both teams. So you need to win a game like it’s wrestling in the mud. You’re heavy and you’re slow. But we found a way to be better in transition, we found a way to find the hot players”, he said.
Maodo Lo picked up 23 points for ALBA that managed to remain competitive throughout the game, though in the end got crushed by Bayern’s defense and Nick Weiler-Babb who stepped up in the middle of the fourth quarter to produce key plays as he finished the game with a total of 13 points.
Luke Sikma added up 10 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists as Israel Gonzalez’s squad suffered its second defeat of the week and now strays further down the standings with a 2-5 record.
Photo: EuroLeague