Ulm's teenage stars Ben Saraf and Noa Essengue also came up big
Jessup triple wins the game, Ulm ruins Trefl’s return to EuroCup
ratiopharm Ulm fought off a valiant effort from BKT EuroCup returnee Trefl Sopot to snatch a 93-96 overtime victory on the road as Justinian Jessup hit the game-winning three-pointer with 2.0 seconds left. Ulm rallied from 12 points down to ruin Trefl’s first EuroCup game since 2012.
Jessup scored a team-high 20 points while Noa Essengue had 18 points, fellow teenager Ben Saraf collected 17 points and 10 assists and Alfonso Plummer chipped in 12 points. Jakub Schenk drained 5 three-pointers for 22 points and Geoffrey Groselle collected 11 points and 10 rebounds in the Group A encounter.
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The game was tight in the first quarter with Philipp Herkenhoff and Jessup both scoring 6 points for Ulm while Jaroslaw Zyskowski picked up 6 points of his own for Trefl, which was down 12-14. Trefl’s veteran leaders of Tarik Phillip, Groselle and Aaron Best sparked a 12-4 spurt for a 24-18 advantage. Schenk added two triples and the hosts led 32-23 after 10 minutes.
The Ulm struggles continued in the second quarter and Trefl extended the cushion to 39-27. The German team started to come up with defensive stops, holding Trefl scoreless for nearly 4 minutes and scored 9 straight points to close within 39-36. Trefl led the game 41-38 at halftime.
Trefl had the better start to the second half and went ahead 48-41. Ulm again had a strong defensive stretch, keeping Trefl scoreless for 4 minutes and getting as close as 48-41. Trefl regained control thanks to 5 points from Marcus Weathers and a third three-pointer by Schenk in a 12-3 surge to make it 60-50. Alec Anigbata came off the Ulm bench for 5 points and the guests were down 62-55 after 30 minutes.
Ulm continued to get closer and made it 64-60 only to see Zyskowski and Schenk hit back-to-back triples and the cushion was double digits again 70-60. Saraf was not ready to give up the game with a tough jumper, three-point play and 2 more free throws to make it 72-67. Trefl increased the lead to 77-69 but Saraf fed fellow teenage star prospect Essengue for two dunks and Saraf hit a jumper and put back a miss to knot the game 79-79 with 78 seconds to play. Saraf then raced ahead after a missed shot, got the ball from Plummer but gave it back to the Puerto Rican for the layup and an Ulm lead, 79-81, with 21 seconds. Groselle missed for Trefl but stole the ball from Plummer and laid it in for the tie game 81-81 with 6.2 seconds remaining to send the game to overtime.
Essengue stepped up in the extra session with an alley-oop dunk and three-pointer and Plummer’s triple had Ulm up 85-89. Phillip drained a three-pointer of his own and 2 free throws as the game was tied again 93-93. That set up Jessup’s heroics with a three-pointer with 2 seconds to go.