Brose Bamberg loses to Oradea - home game against Braunschweig rescheduled

Brose Bamberg lost 80-82 to CSM CSU Oradea on Matchday 1 of the FIBA Europe Cup Intermediate Round, twice overcoming a double-digit deficit and having a chance to at least equalize with the last attack. Kevin Wohlrath was fouled while trying to score a basket, but the whistle did not blow. The slap on the wrist took him out of rhythm, though, and he merely put the ball at the hoop. The best Bamberg thrower was Patrick Miller with 17 points.

Patrick Miller was back in the starting lineup after his muscular problems at Brose, but even he could not prevent Oradea from getting off to the better start at first. The home side carried this four-point deficit until the middle of the quarter: 8:12. After that, however, things did not get any better. On the contrary: offensively, little was going right, defensively, the Bambergers were often too unfocused, and also made some avoidable ball losses. The result was a 2:11 run and a double-digit deficit. Eight minutes had passed when Spencer Reaves hit the first three-pointer for Brose, Jaromír Bohačík added two more free throws before the siren, so that it went into the first quarter break at 19:24.

A Sengfelder three-pointer gave Brose its first equalizer of the game after just over 13 minutes, and another successful long-range shot, this time by Bohačík, gave the home side its first lead of the game three minutes later: 35:32. This was still valid at halftime, when the score went into the dressing rooms at 43:40. Up to that point, Brose had dominated the rebounding, but made too little of its second and third chances. And yet, with the exception of Tyreese Blunt, who was very committed defensively, all the Bamberg players had scored by the break.

Brose came out of the dressing room with a free throw by Solomon Young - but that was it for the Bamberg offense. Just like in the first quarter, nothing went right in front. And, just like in the first period, the home side was again too far away from their opponents at the back. Oradea exploited this mercilessly, going on what they saw as a 16:3 run within five minutes and putting Brose back into the two-digit deficit. For the Bambergers, it was Patrick Miller who tried again and again with quick steps into the zone and either finished himself or was fouled and allowed to go to the free-throw line. As the game progressed, Bohačík also found his three-handed shot again. Brose was able to gradually reduce the deficit and went into the last ten minutes with minus four: 61:65.

There, however, it was initially the Romanians again who took control of the game. Kevin Wohlrath hit a three-pointer during the visitors' run, Heckmann and Chachashvili followed suit, before it was Wohlrath again who brought his team back to within one point with his next three-pointer. But the Bambergers could not get past, because the guests had a suitable answer to everything. So the last seconds had to decide. First Miller missed at 80:82, but so did Oradea in return, so Brose still had a few seconds left for the last attack. Solomon Young saw the free Kevin Wohlrath, who moved to the basket, was clearly fouled - but the whistle did not blow. The slap on the wrist, however, took him out of his rhythm, so that he only put the basket on the hoop.