GER - Ludwigsburg regain lead after Berlin loss

BERLIN (Bundesliga) - Telekom Baskets Bonn completed a season sweep of their series with Alba Berlin to knock the capital city club off the top of the German BBL.

William Avery missed two foul shots with three seconds remaining as Berlin fell 69-66, with EnBW Ludwigsburg cruising past Karlsruhe to grab the top spot.

Jason Gardner, whose 14 points led four Bonn players in double figures, made one of two free throws before Avery's misses to give Bonn the three-point lead late.

Avery, who had drained a three-pointer to pull within 68-66, was fouled before he could launch an attempt to even the game.

Berlin guard Julius Jenkins led all scorers with 26 points while Chris Owens had 14 points, eight rebounds and four blocks in a losing cause. With the loss, Berlin dropped to 14-3 on the season - a half-game behind new leaders Ludwigsburg.

"We had problems playing our system. Jenkins was able to keep us in the game but it wasn't enough in the end. But we're still on target for this season," said Alba coach Henrik Rodl, whose team shot just 37% (22 of 60) for the game.

The contest saw the return of Berlin's Serbian center Jovo Stanojevic, who had two points, one rebound and one assist on 0-for-5 shooting in five minutes of action.

Patrick Flomo played a big role in the victory, collecting 10 points, nine rebounds and three blocks from the bench for Bonn, who improved to 11-6 on the season - good for fifth place.

Atop the league again are Ludwigsburg, who beat Karlsruhe 99-83 to move to 15-3 thanks to Nate Harris, whose 25 points led five players in double figures.

"We can be happy to have won today. Offensively we were consistent, but we can still improve our defence. I can live with the (19) turnovers. That's bound to happen in a quick game," said Ludwigsburg coach Silvano Poropat.

Last-placed Karlsruhe dropped to 2-15 with their 12th straight loss despite a combined 52 points from Joel Jones (31) and Domonic Jones (21).

The third-placed defending champions RheinEnergie Koln were able to keep pace with Ludwigsburg, as Immanuel McElroy and Demond Mallet each scored 15 points in a 75-70 home victory over Walter Tigers Tubingen.

Sasa Obradovic used only seven players but improved to 13-4 while Tubingen dropped to 7-10 despite 19 points and 10 rebounds from Rasko Katic.

"I'm only satisfied with the result. Our game has still not stabilised and we're still missing injured players. We just have to work, work and work," said Obradovic, who was missing Johannes Strasser, Ronald Burrell and Mladjen Sljivancanin.

While Koln struggled, Eisbaren Bremerhaven cruised to a road victory beating sellbytel Baskets Nurnberg 109-59.

Seven Bremerhaven scored in double figures - led by 14 each from Charles Wallace and Adam Chubb - and the team shot 70% (41 of 59) from the field in the convincing win, which improved the team to 11-6 and fourth place.

Nurnberg committed 24 turnovers and scored just 21 points in the second half in dropping to 3-14.

Darren Fenn scored 27 points and Robert Garrett added 20 as Brose Baskets Bamberg beat Giessen 46ers 75-61 to improve to 7-6 in 12th place. Giessen lost their fourth straight to drop to 3-15.

Paderborn Baskets (8-10) held sixth placed Artland Dragons (11-7) to just five third-quarter points in a 77-52 home victory as Tim Black hit for 20 points.

Jonathan Levy scored 25 points and Jeff Gibbs had 12 points and 17 rebounds as ratiopharm Ulm pulled to 9-9 with their fourth-straight win - an 81-77 over-time victory over Deutsche Bank Skyliners, who fell to 10-8.

Desmond Penigar's 19 points led four players in double digits as EWE Baskets Oldenburg (9-9) beat TBB Trier (8-10) 99-61.

By PA Sport