Brose Bamberg loses in Jena

Brose Bamberg went down to a clear 68:85 defeat on the road at Science City Jena on the 22nd matchday of the German league. The main reason for that was a poor second period (18:29). Nor did the German champions find any energy in the second half to withstand a strong performance by Jena. The top scorer for Bamberg was Ricky Hickman with 16 points.

Andrea Trinchieri commented: “Congratulations to Jena on a magnificent game and an absolutely deserved win. They played with a lot of energy and displayed great basketball. They destroyed us. It was a black evening for us. Of course, we’d had a tough season so far, but it’s difficult to digest a defeat like the one today. We gave an embarrassing showing as a team. No energy, no power, nothing. Our team is out of its depth in many situations. But when you’ve got two legs, two arms and a heart, you should also use them. My players aren’t able at the moment to do the simplest basketball basics.”

Alongside the injured Patrick Heckmann, Elias Harris, Bryce Taylor and Luka Mitrovic, Ali Nikolic was also missing due to the rule on the number of eligible foreign players. In addition to Eddy Edigin, Louis Olinde and Tibor Taras, three players from Brose’s farm team Baunach Young Pikes rounded out the squad. Bamberg got off to a good start and Ricky Hickman in particular was in accurate shooting form. He was responsible for scoring Brose’s first eight points to put it 8:7 ahead. The lead then swayed to and fro and the first period ended 20:20.

Nikos Zisis put Brose’s first points on the board in the second quarter, after which Jena initiated a 6:0 run that forced Head Coach Trinchieri to call a timeout. Yet the home side reliably hit the mark from outside. With one minute to go before half-time, Jena was twelve points in front (33:45) – the home side’s highest lead up to then. Daniel Hackett reduced the deficit with five straight points, but Bamberg still trailed by eleven at the break (38:49).

Brose got off to a good start to the third period with points by Ricky Hickman and Louis Olinde (44:48 in the 23rd minute). However, Jena struck back with a run of 12 points without reply and stretched its lead to 16 points (44:60). Things primarily went right for Bamberg from the foul line: First Rubit, then Zisis cut the gap to 50:60. Yet Jena always found the right answer and produced a further run (8:0) with two minutes remaining in the third quarter to as good as seal the encounter. Brose went into the final period trailing by 54:68.

However, Science City Jena dominated it, even leading at one stage by 24 points. In the end, Brose’s buckets from beyond the arc were worthless: Bamberg lost by 68:85 and has gone without a win on the road since November 4, 2017 – 104 days.