Bamberg
Brose Bamberg tied second after a 77:70 home win
Brose Bamberg was able to force aspiring playoff contenders Telekom Baskets Bonn to its knees with a strong third period (25:11). The team of Head Coach Ainars Bagatskis ran out winners by 77:70, its third straight win in the German league. Since Alba Berlin lost at Bayern Munich, Bamberg is now level on points in the table with second-placed Berlin.
Ainars Bagatskis had to do without his talent Louis Olinde at short notice: The youngster was forced to quit during the warm-up with hip problems. Daniel Schmidt was also missing due to a gastrointestinal infection. However, the recently returned Ricky Hickman played Bonn’s defense pretty dizzy in the opening minutes. On his home debut this season in the Brose Arena, the American chalked up Bamberg’s first five points to put it 5:0 ahead and, after Bonn produced a run of seven points without reply, he added a lay-up and free throw to put his side back in front (8:7). Hickmann made eight of his total haul of ten points in a first two-and-a-half minutes – a strong start! However, Bamberg were then unsettled by the intensity of the club from the Rhineland. In particular, the visitors were able to snap up too many rebounds under Bamberg’s basket and so picked up eight points on their second bite at the cherry up to half-time. With Bamberg trailing 10:18, Elias Harris injected some zest back into his side’s offense and added five straight points to make it 15:18. Augustine Rubit and Tyrese Rice tied the scores at 22:22 by the end of the period. However, Bonn’s tight defense thwarted many of Bamberg’s efforts in offense in the second quarter. As a result, the visitors opened up a slight gap and maintained the lead up to half-time (36:41).
Bamberg then turned the game around in the first four minutes after the break, moving 47:46 ahead with eleven points from five of its players: First a bucket from beyond the arc by Nikos Zisis, then lay-ups from Elias Harris and Augustine Rubit, a mid-range shot by Bryce Taylor and a floater through Stevan Jelovac. The home side then overran the visitors: Marurice Stuckey with a bucket from downtown, Stevan Jelovac with three free throws after being fouled, then a thunderous slam-dunk by top scorer Augustine Rubit (17 points) made it 61:50, the home side’s highest lead. In the final period, Bamberg initially maintained the gap (68:58), but Bonn fought its way back to within three points with three minutes remaining (72:69), before the strong Elias Harris (15 points) added a lay-up and then a slam-dunk to make it 76:69 shortly before the end and seal victory.
Ainars Bagatskis commented: “We played a good and experienced team today. Bonn had lost its last two games and so was determined to win. Our objective today was to dominate in the paint. In the first half we didn’t play as physically as we hoped and didn’t use our fouls optimally. Bonn caused us headaches in the paint to begin with and scored many points against us on fast breaks. We played more physically in the second half and so were tougher in defense. That was the key to victory today.”