BBL Cup: Brose Bamberg knocked out by defending champions

A defending champion FC Bayern Munich, which was short of players, eliminated Brose Bamberg from the BBL Cup with 15 successful three-pointers. After a good first half with a 45:42 lead, the Bambergers collapsed after the break and had to go home with a 77:98 loss.

After ratiopharm Ulm had shown how to defeat FC Bayern in the Audi Dome a week ago, Brose Bamberg also had hopes of beating the defending champions in the Cup Round of 16. The Munich team was still weakened by Corona, and Trinchieri's team was missing an all-German starting five in the form of ex-Bambergers Obst and Radosevic as well as Djedovic, Zipser and Schilling. And in the first half, things looked good for the Bamberg team, which still had to do without Derek Cooke Jr. due to injury. The guests fooled the Bayern defense time and again, got free throws through their good exchange of passes under the basket or to the outside players and pulled away to 18:13. Munich cut the gap to 21:19 at the end of the quarter, but after an offensive dry period on both sides, Omar Prewitt took control and helped Bamberg to a 36:28 lead with eight points in a row. But Bayern countered with three three-pointers in a row and equalized the score at 42:42. Trevis Simpson (10 points) also hit a long-range shot at the break siren, 45:42.

After the break, the Munich team adapted better to the game of Roijakkers' boys. Bamberg's top scorer Omar Prewitt could only add two points to his 13 from the first half, and the American was not convincing defensively. Bamberg answered a 0:8 run to 45:50 with a 7:0 through threes by Kenneth Ogbe and Christian Sengfelder (12 points), but after the guests took a 52:50 lead, FCB turned up the heat even more. Four Bayern threes and three dunks by the end of the quarter meant a double-digit deficit (63:74), from which Bamberg did not recover. Four more threes from the home side sealed the Brose boys' cup exit early on. At least there was a small ray of hope for Bamberg: center Martinas Geben, who had grabbed many rebounds in previous games but struggled with his shot, hit more than half of his attempts and scored 13 points.

Johan Roijakkers (head coach Brose Bamberg): "We played well for 20 minutes, implemented all the things we had planned. The only thing was that we were already not able to defend the three-point line effectively. We knew in advance that this would be the key to success to beat Munich. But when Walden and Jaramaz hit twelve attempts, it becomes difficult. All in all, I'm happy with the first half, but Munich deserved to win in the end."

On 09 October 2021, Brose Bamberg has the next tough away game ahead of them. Starting at 20:30, the Roijakkers boys will be fighting for a win at ratiopharm Ulm.