BERLIN (Bundesliga Play-offs) - Rhein Energie Koln stole Game One and home court advantage of their German play-offs finals series against Alba Berlin with an 88-79 victory Sunday night.
Titus Ivory replaced suspended Immanuel McElroy in the Koln starting line-up and scored 16 points, added a team-high five assists as well as two rebounds and two steals.
Ivory also nailed four straight free throws in the final 19 seconds to secure the victory on the road.
"I am proud of my team. Beating Alba in their own gym is a big and important victory for us," said rookie coach Sasa Obradovic, whose team is enjoying a dream season after reaching the quarter-finals of the EuroCup; knocking off defending champions GHP Bamberg in the German semi-finals; and now playing in their second German play-off finals.
"We controlled the whole game and did our things. The team did what we planned to do," added Obradovic.
Rhein Energie's Aleksandar Nadjfeij led Koln with 19 points, including 10 points in the third quarter with his team struggling with turnovers and foul trouble.
Michael H Jordan added 16 points - including six straight free throws in the final two minutes, five rebounds and four assists. And Glen McGowan added 11 points and Marcin Gortat 10 as Obradovic's team was able to overcome the loss of McElroy.
The team's second-leading scorer was serving his third and final game of a three-game ban after an altercation in the semi-finals against Bamberg.
McElroy will return to Obradovic's team for Thursday's Game Two of the best-of-five finals at the Energy Dome in Cologne.
Alba Berlin coach Henrik Roedl meanwhile will try to find a better solution to missing his star center Jovo Stanojevic, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in the semi-finals against Bremerhaven.
Mid-season acquisition Sharrod Ford had 10 points, seven rebounds and two blocks for the seven-time German league champions. But he also had four turnovers against Koln's smaller, quicker line-up.
Berlin power forward Quadre Lollis did his best to pick up the slack, scoring a game-high 21 points and grabbing five rebounds. And Hollis Price added 11 points and eight assists. But the playmaker struggled with his ball handling, committing five turnovers.
"Congratulations to Koln, who deservedly won. We were tight with the injury to Stanojevic. And Koln and Nadjfeji and Jordan made the important plays in the deciding stages," Roedl said.
"Now we have to really attack on Thursday. You definitely can't write us off yet."
Alba started Sunday's game in the Berlin Max-Schmeling Halle using their size advantage to pull ahead 12-5 with Koln missing nine of their first 11 shots.
Rhein Energie closed to within 16-15 before Mike Penberthy hit a three-pointer just before the first quarter buzzer for a 19-15 Alba lead.
Guido Gruenheid's three-pointer with 7:30 left in the second quarter gave Rhein Energie their first lead, 22-21. And the teams went into the locker rooms with Berlin ahead 36-35.
After committing just three first half turnovers, Koln made four turnovers in a two-minute third-quarter stretch, allowing Berlin to open a 44-40 advantage.
But Nadjeji scored 10 of Rhein Energie's next 14 points to push his team ahead 54-49 before assisting McGowan on a three-pointer for a 57-49 lead.
Berlin came into the fourth quarter down 57-51, but two Demond Greene three-pointers helped Alba get to within 64-63 with 6:09 remaining in the game.
But Berlin committed five turnovers over the next four minutes to allow Koln to open a 10-point lead, 77-67 with just more than two minutes left.
Roedl's team could not get closer to five points as Obradovic's team made 13 of 14 free throws in the final two minutes.
By David Hein, PA Sport