GER - Avery-less Alba beat Trier, sole BBL leaders

BERLIN (BBL) - Alba Berlin fought through an injury to captain and playmaker William Avery in knocking off TBB Trier 84-76 to retain their lead atop the German BBL league.

Julius Jenkins scored 24 points while German international Johannes Herber and Nicolai Simon each had 11 in replacing Avery as Berlin improved to 13-2 - one game clear of 12-3 sides EnBW Ludwigsburg and RheinEnergie Koln.

Alba fell behind 20-12 on the road as James Gillingham scored 13 of his 18 points in the first quarter.

Henrik Rodl's team pulled even at 22-22 after 10 minutes and opened a 10-point lead 44-34 late in the half with three-pointers from Nenad Canak, Herber and Simon.

Former Alba player Rodl took a chance in the second quarter with 20-year-old Simon, Philip Zwiener, 21, and 18-year-old Oskar Fassler on the court at the same time.

Trier came out of the locker-room on fire, completing a 14-0 run to go ahead 54-49, but the Berliners found their way back into the game and led 81-76 with 1:14 left when Koko Archibong buried a three-pointer to put the game away 84-76.

"This was a tough game for us. In addition we had the handicap on not having William Avery. But Johannes Herber and Nicolai Simon did an excellent job replacing him," said Rodl, whose team shot 56% (31 of 55) from the floor.

"Even when we were behind, we kept our cool, and I would like to praise my team for that."

"This was a very dangerous opponent. They continued to get pushes of energy but our team kept pushing forward, mainly because of the super performances of our young players," added Alba manager Henning Harnisch, who also used to play for the club.

Trier, who dropped to 8-8 on the season, also received 18 points from Tommy Adams.

In Cologne, Immanuel McElroy scored 16 points and Guido Grunheid added 13 points and 12 rebounds off the bench as RheinEnergie Koln held off struggling Giessen 46ers 60-57 to move to 12-3.

Sasa Obradovic's reigning BBL champions shot just 37% (21 of 57) from the field but out-rebounded Giessen 45-33. Koln's new addition Devin Green had just three points, five rebounds and one assist in 31 minutes of action.

"I didn't expect Giessen to be so tough. But the most important thing for us is to keep working hard and integrate Devin Green into our game," Obradovic said.

Despite 16 points and 10 rebounds from Robert Maras and 16 points from Rouven Roussler, Giessen dropped their second straight game to fall to 3-13 after winning the first two games under new coach Ken Scalabroni.

Artland Dragons, meanwhile, had their four-game winning streak snapped and missed a chance to take over fourth place by losing 97-78 at ratiopharm Ulm.
Jeff Gibbs collected 19 points and 12 rebounds as Ulm improved to 7-9 by out-rebounding Artland 35-26. Artland, who are 10-6, played without playmaker Filiberto Rivera and were led by Adam Hess' 20 points.

The 2004 German champions Deutsche Bank Skyliners finally returned to the winning column after three consecutive defeats by holding off Walter Tigers Tubingen 104-102 in double-overtime to improve to 9-7 for seventh place.

Eric Chatfield (27 points, five rebounds and six assists) and Travon Bryant (26 points and 11 rebounds) led the way for the Skyliners.

Tubingen lost their fourth-straight game to fall to 7-8 despite out-rebounding Frankfurt 54-38, but they had 25 turnovers to 13 for the Skyliners.

Igor Perovic had 22 points for Tubingen while Rasko Katic had 13 points and 20 rebounds, and Jamaal Davis added 16 points and 10 rebounds in the loss.

In other action, EWE Baskets Oldenburg beat Eisbaren Bremerhaven 62-60. Oldenburg are 8-8 while Bremerhaven dropped to 9-6.

Eric Taylor and Derrick Allen combined for 41 points as 6-10 Bayer Giants Leverkusen grabbed an 88-73 road win against 2-13 Sellbytel Nurnberg.
The 16th game day's three other matches will be played in the next week.

By PA Sport