BBC Bayreuth: Convincing victory against Bochum

BBC Bayreuth celebrated an unchallenged 100:80 home victory against VfL SparkassenStars Bochum in the 2nd Basketball Bundesliga Pro A on Saturday evening. Bayreuth now have two wins and two losses after four games.

The BBC started the game with Moritz Plescher, Selim Fofana, Kristian Sjolund, Aaron Carver and Lenny Liedtke. Bochum had the better start and took the lead with 6:2 and 8:5. Marios Giotis put the BBC in front for the first time with a three-pointer at 11:10. The lead changed constantly until Shane Gatling hit a three-pointer to give Bayreuth a five-point lead. Immediately before, Shane Gatling himself and Moritz Plescher had each sunk a three-pointer. Bayreuth went into the first quarter break with a 27:21 lead.

In the second period, Bochum came back a bit, but then two three-pointers by Shane Gatling and Marco Rahn followed, so that Bayreuth was ahead by nine points. Shane Gatling was the outstanding Bayreuth player in this phase, and he also gave the BBC a double-digit lead for the first time at 41:31. The score was 47:34 for Bayreuth after 18 minutes. With a 49:36 lead for the BBC, it went into the half-time break after a strong 20 minutes.

At the start of the third period, Bayreuth's lead remained constant. Selim Fofana extended the lead for the BBC to 61:44. 66:46 and thus a 20-point lead was reached after a good 25 minutes following a three-pointer by Marios Giotis. The 2,029 spectators in the Oberfrankenhalle saw a very good performance by the home team, which continuously extended the lead. With 80:58 after 30 minutes, the game was practically decided in favour of the BBC.

Bochum pulled out all they had, but sometimes seemed a little overstretched. Bayreuth led 88:61 after a three-point play by Kristian Sjolund. 92:64 was the intermediate score midway through the final period. Despite the deficit, Bochum did not give up and came back a little bit. After an unsportsmanlike foul by Selim Fofana, the score was 75:97. However, the Bayreuth team broke the 100-point mark with a three-pointer by Marco Rahn, and the final score was 100:80.

The best Bayreuth scorer was Selim Fofana with 17 points, Marios Giotis scored 15. A total of six Bayreuth players scored in double figures. Marios Giotis had hit rates of 100 per cent each on his throws from two- and three-point range. Aaron Carver grabbed the most rebounds with nine. On the Bochum side, Vincent Friederici scored the most points with 19, while Niklas Geske and Tom-Niclas Alte were the visitors' best rebounders with 4 each.

The next game of the BBC will take place on Friday 27 October in Jena. Jump is at 19:00.