Brose Bamberg captures third successive away win after overtime

Bamberg continues to improve its standing in the Champions League: After defeating JDA Dijon by 101:97, its third victory on the road in a row, it is now third in the table and has built a cushion of three wins between it and the team in fifth spot. With just five games remaining, Bamberg ought to be able to qualify for the round of sixteen.

However, Bamberg had to work longer to come away from Dijon with a victory: After leading by 15 points at one stage, it was not able to hold on and only managed to secure victory after a turbulent affair in overtime. Head Coach Ainars Bagatskis was without Stevan Jelovac, who twisted his ankle in the final training session. Youngster Arnaldas Kulboka again took his place in the squad. After trailing by 0:5 at the outset, Bamberg did not wake up until the third minute, when Cliff Alexander produced an alley-oop dunk after a fine pass by Nikos Zisis to make it 3:7, after which Patrick Heckmann drained a bucket from downtown to cut the gap to 6:7. Yet it was only when Tyrese Rice was brought on with the score at 9:11 that Bamberg’s attack found better ideas to unlock the French club at the back. The American tore holes in the home side’s aggressive defense and distributed brilliant passes, which his teammates were able to capitalize on. Bryce Taylor’s three to make it 17:16 put Bamberg ahead for the first time, after which it produced a run of 9 points without reply thanks to shots from Elias Harris, Augustine Rubit and Arnaldas Kulboka to make it 25:16 by the end of the period. Bamberg also took that lead in at half-time (43:34) after an evenly balanced second period.

For seven minutes in the third period, it looked as though Brose Bamberg would stroll to victory: The strong Elias Harris (16 points) and Bryce Taylor (15) kept on scoring, enabling their side to stretch the gap to 60:45 after 27 minutes. Dijon’s Head Coach Laurent Legname then deliberately provoked a technical foul against himself and so was able to fire up the crowd and motivate his players again – Dijon suddenly began to play with greater bite and aggression. And Bamberg did not find it easy to put up any resistance. Its actions in offensive were no longer fluent and it was often forced to take Hail Mary shots as the shot clock ran down – and Dijon caught up point by point. After it tied the encounter at 73:73 with three minutes to go, Augustine Rubit drained free throws, top scorer Ricky Hickman (18 points) produced a four-point play, and Elias Harris added free throws to make it 81:73 and seemingly seal victory with 30 seconds remaining. However, the former Quackenbrück player David Holston lived up to his nickname “The Magic Dwarf”: the just 1.70 meter playmaker drained three crazy buckets from outside in the last 20 seconds to help his side draw level (84:84) and force the game into overtime. The lead changed hands six times in overtime, before Tyrese Rice (13 points) put Bamberg 99:97 in front with a three from ten meters out with seven seconds left on the clock. Patrick Heckmann was wide alert on the French club’s final attack, stole possession from Dijon’s playmaker Jeremy Leloup and passed to Bryce Taylor, who made it 101:97 with a slam-dunk and so clinched victory.

Ainars Bagatskis commented: “We had the game under control over large stretches. However, we became slacker in defense at the end for some reason or other. In the final minutes of regular time it seemed as if the basketball gods were on Dijon’s side – just look at Holston’s shots. But that was also a very good lesson for us. Nevertheless, I have to congratulate my team. It battled away and fought to the very end, even when not much was going right in offense. Winning is all that matters, so I’m very happy.”