Alba Berlin defeats Sabah and skips a round

This saves the Berliners having to go through the play-ins of the second and third group teams. The intermediate round will again be played as a group of four with a return leg and lasts from the end of January to March.

The best thrower at Alba against Sabah was Moses Wood (17 points). Norris Agbakoko (16), Sam Griesel (15), Bennet Hundt (14) and Justin Bean (10) also scored double figures. The next game in the Bundesliga is at home against Ulm on Saturday at 6:30 p.m.

Alba starts weakly

In addition to the injured Martin Hermannsson and Martynas Echodas (advanced training), Alba also missed captain Jonas Mattisseck for personal reasons. The young talents Matheo Hermann and Richard Schmitt joined the squad.

The Berliners started unfocused. As in the surprising defeat in Hamburg on Sunday, the defense was not up to par and allowed Sabah to finish near the basket far too easily. At least things went well offensively in the first few minutes, but that didn’t last long.

After two three-pointers from Griesel and Wood, Alba threw and threw, but the ball didn’t want to go into the basket. Ten attempts from distance missed the target in a row and the visitors used this to build a lead of up to eight points.

A three-pointer from Hundt ended the lull, but things didn’t really go well for Calles’ team. This was also because Alba had problems early on in the build-up. Jack Kayil, who has often been outstanding in recent weeks, received his third foul in the second quarter, Hundt had two – and Malte Delow, who could also help out as a point guard, also had to go to the bench because of a foul.

Intermediate sprint in the third quarter

The good news from Berlin’s point of view was: After a three-pointer from Wood shortly before the break, the score was only 42:46. Like a few times this season, Alba came out of the locker room very focused. After almost 50 seconds, the favorite took the lead and now dominated the game.

The Berliners defended much more intensively and forced the guests to make mistakes. They punished them at the front with the strong Griesel and Wood. When Agbakoko scored with a cracking dunk to make it 58:51, the mood in the hall was exuberant.

The defense from Sabah, who only fielded seven players, became increasingly weak and by the middle of the third quarter it looked as if the visitors had given up completely. Alba pulled away and in the final minutes the 17-year-old Hermann and Schmitt (18) made their professional debuts. The fact that both scored their first points rounded off the strong second half.