ALBA Berlin clinches German SuperCup

ALBA Berlin registered a pre-season blow to rivals Bayern Munich in the German SuperCup, emerging with a 76-68 win. Bundesliga Cup winners ALBA will be buoyed by the success as they gear up to start a busy campaign in the league and Euroleague. As for Bayern, the German league winners from last season will not be unduly worried as they look to defend their crown this year while competing a second consecutive Euroleague term.

Over 11,000 people turned up to see the game and witnessed ALBA Berlin carve out an advantage in the first quarter as the team raced to a 21-11 lead. That gave the Cup holders a solid double digit lead at the first interval, a deficit that would ultimately prove decisive. In the second period Bayern Munich continued to find it hard to break down the ALBA perimeter, allowing the Berlin outfit to extend their lead to 45-25 at halftime.

It had been a disastrous first half for the league champions, while ALBA Berlin would have been forgiven if they were already planning their post-game celebrations. However, Bayern started to make a comeback, using the third quarter to pour in 28 points and restrict Berlin to 19 points. After 30 minutes on the floor the score line look narrower at 64-53 in favour of ALBA, with Bayern 11 points off the pace. In the final frame Munich managed to hold ALBA Berlin to 12 points, but sacrificed consistent buckets at the other end, only scoring 15 to close the gap but not trouble the Berlin lead.

Jamel McLean led the winning effort with 15 points, while Vojdan Stojanovski scored 13, and Niels Giffey also tipped 13.

Bayern was slow to get into the game, but had John Bryant on 14 points and Heiko Schaffartzik, Lucca Staiger, Vladimir Stimac with 10 apiece after 40 minutes.