Basketball Bundesliga: Brose Bamberg wins 88-87

Brose Bamberg kept their chance of making the playoffs alive with an 88-87 win over BG Göttingen, but how the hard-fought home victory came about will go down in Bamberg basketball history: with one minute to go, Bamberg had an almost comfortable seven-point lead (84-77). The Amiel youngsters gave it away first with a 0:10, but two seconds before the end Justin Robinson made up for it with a crazy three-pointer to make it 87:87, was fouled in the process and secured the victory with a bonus free throw.

Bamberg started fast, concentrated and combative: four steals for the home side. Chris Dowe, Kenneth Ogbe and Tomas Kyzlink punished the guests with fast baskets and dunks for a 10:0 lead. Ogbe and Dowe increased the lead to 16:5, but a controversial unsportsmanlike foul against Dominik Lockhart caused a break in the game. The Amiel boys lacked concentration at both ends. The result: Bamberg remained without points for seven and a half minutes. A quarter-long 0:19 resulted in the highest deficit of the game, 16:24. Again it was Chris Dowe who cut the deficit: first with a three-pointer at 19:24, then with fine passes and four free throws in a row. The Bamberg team went into the break with a 43:42 lead.

It remained close in the third quarter, the lead changed six times. Omar Prewitt put up ten points. Shortly before the end of the quarter, centre Martinas Geben fought his way under the basket a few times. After a 0:5 start into the final quarter, Tomas Kyzlink put the game ahead with three layups in a row. Chris Sengfelder and Omar Prewitt completed the 10-0 run for a 75-67 lead. When top scorer Prewitt hit his second three-pointer in a row 59 seconds before the end, the fans were already cheering in view of the 84:77 lead. A Göttingen three-pointer and a Bamberg ball loss as well as a Göttingen basket, an unsportsmanlike foul by Kyzlink, Sengfelder laying free under the basket and another three-pointer put Göttingen in front 84-85. After Mitchell missed, Göttingen managed to extend the lead to 84-87 with two free throws with six seconds left. Justin Robinson dribbled across the centre line with lightning speed to avoid a quick foul by Göttingen for just two free throws. Göttingen's Jeremiah Martin hit Robinson on the hand, but the Bamberg native still went up and hit the three-pointer to make it 87-87. Robinson converted the bonus free throw for his 13th point to give Bamberg the win.

Oren Amiel (Head Coach Brose Bamberg): "Sometimes you just need luck. We actually had the game in the bag, were up by seven points with one minute left. Then we made the wrong decisions. The game has to be a warning for us. What we still lack is consistency. We have to keep working on that. But at the end of the day, what counts is what's on the scoreboard. And there it says that we won. And that was thanks to a sensational throw by Justin Robinson. I'm happy for him, but I'm happy first and foremost for the fans who deserved this win."

On Easter Sunday, 17 April 2022, Brose Bamberg will host fifth-placed ratiopharm Ulm from 6 p.m. onwards.