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Berlin (AP) - Alba Berlin has won the basketball Bundesliga pursuit duel.
On Tuesday evening the Berliners won in front of empty ranks at the Hakro Merlins Crailsheim with 101: 77 (52:44).
After the tenth league win in a row, Alba is now moving up to second place in the table behind leaders Ludwigsburg.
The best Berlin throwers were the outstanding Maodo Lo with 19 and Louis Olinde with 15 points.
With captain Niels Giffey, Peyton Siva and Jayson Granger, coach Aito Garcia Reneses had to do without three key performers.
For Alba it was also the third game in just five days.
But that was initially not noticeable to the Berliners.
They started with concentration and were able to break away slightly for the first time in the first quarter with 20:13.
Both teams made a lot of pace and often took quick throws.
The hosts came closer again in the second quarter (38:44) because the German champions' throwing quota was now down a bit.
But the Berliners continued to defend well and held the lead.
It was international Lo, who kept his team a double-digit lead until the break.
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After changing sides, the error rate at Alba increased - and Crailsheim came back up.
But that didn't impress the Berliners, they always had an answer ready.
So the lead never melted below six points.
Visibly annoyed, the hosts gave up in the final phase.
A good four minutes before the end, Alba was ahead with twenty points (92:72) - that was the decision.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210209-99-372568 / 2
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