Bamberg suffers sobering home defeat

The impression of a solid, confident team from recent weeks was, it seems, premature: After six wins in a row and moving into second in the easyCredit German Basketball League, Brose Bamberg went down to a disappointing 78:81 defeat at home against ratiopharm Ulm. What was especially bitter was that the team of Head Coach Roel Moors led by 12 points at the end of the third period.

The visitors, who traveled to Bamberg on the back of a series of five straight defeats in the German league, got off to the better start and put the home side under pressure with a 0:5 run. Roel Moors’ team lost possession too often as it built it moves (a total of six times in the first quarter), with the result that Ulm – despite the fact that Bamberg quickly tied the scores at 9:9 – pulled 9:15 ahead again. However, Retin Obasohan with six points and Michael Carrera with a three put their side back in front at the end of the period (20:18). In the second quarter, Bamberg applied far more pressure and was much more focused in defense in particular and so forced the visitors to concede a lot of turnovers, as a result of which the home side went 28:23 in front and slowly extended the gap to ten points (41:31). Top scorer Retin Obasohan was especially impressive in this spell: The Belgian player did not miss any of his shots up to the break, chalking up 11 out of his total haul of 15 points, snapped up five rebounds and also made two assists for his teammates. It was also thanks to him that the home side was able to maintain its 46:36 advantage by half-time.

Assem Marei, who finished as Bamberg’s second-best scorer with 14 points, stretched the gap to 48:36 shortly after the break. Yet the home side kept on letting Ulm produce small runs and so the club from Swabia was almost able to equalize by midway through the third period (54:51). In particular in this spell, Bamberg missed too many free throws – Marei alone failed to score from the line on four occasions. However, Bamberg stepped up a gear again by the end of the period and Paris Lee (12 points) and Tre McLean (7) restored the 12-point gap shortly before its end (67:55). Bamberg got off to a terrible start to the final quarter and went three attacks without scoring, whereas Ulm scored three times in the space of a minute to make it just 67:64. And to compound that, Bamberg tried to go at its opponent like a bull at a gate with too many solo actions – playmaker Paris Lee and Retin Obasohan often dribbled holes in the ground instead of resorting to fast combination play. The upshot was that Ulm took a narrow lead thanks to Bamberg’s abysmal shooting percentage of five buckets out of 16 shots from close distance. Paris Lee had the chance to equalize shortly before the end, but his lay-up was mercilessly blocked by the outstanding Ulm youngster Kilian Hayes (18 years of age, 24 points). 78:81 – Bamberg’s defeat was sealed.

Brose Bamberg’s Head Coach Roel Moors commented: “We played poorly in defense, especially after the break. We repeatedly allowed a left-hander to move over the left side without anyone coming to help. That’s totally unacceptable. We can’t let a game slip out of our grasp the way we did. We didn’t produce any stops at the back or any good actions in attack. We played our best basketball when we moved the ball and that wasn’t the case at all in the final period. We were well-placed in the table going in the game, but we knew we still have a lot of work ahead of us.”

Bamberg now welcomes Peristeri Winmasters, with which it is tied in third with the same number of points, for a home encounter in the Champions League on Wednesday, November 20, 2019. The tip-off is at 8 p.m.

For more information visit www.brosebamberg.de, www.easycredit-bbl.de and http://www.championsleague.basketball/de.