Brose Bamberg wins as expected against Crailsheim

Brose Bamberg has won again after three straight defeats in the easyCredit German Basketball League: Against HAKRO Merlins Crailsheim, who were promoted just last season, but are now threatened with relegation, the team of Head Coach Federico Perego captured the victory that was expected of it at home in the Brose Arena by the margin of 101:92 after only leading 51:49 at half-time.

In view of the fact that his team faces a further bout of games in midweek and at the weekend, Perego decided to rest his top scorer Tyrese Rice. Maurice Stuckey was also missing due to stomach problems, so youngster Henri Drell from Baunach was called up to the squad. Bamberg had difficulty coming to terms with Crailsheim’s tenacious defending to begin with and, although Cliff Alexander again made his slam-dunks in the opening spell, the visitors hit back with five buckets from downtown in the first period to leave Bamberg trailing by 11:16. The strong Bryce Taylor (16 points) turned the game around with two threes to put his side 17:16 in front, but Bamberg relinquished the lead again at the end of the quarter. Bamberg appeared to have the game under control as of midway through the second period (31:31) and produced a run of nine points without reply thanks to Patrick Heckmann and seven points from Nikos Zisis (who finished with a haul of 15) to pull 40:31 ahead. However, the home side conceded too many turnovers and so played into the hands of the visitors, who were able to reduce the deficit to 51:49 at the break.

Crailsheim came back out and right away scored two of its total of 11 buckets from beyond the arc to snatch a 51:55 lead. Yet Bamberg was not perturbed by the fact that it was trailing by four and, with the score standing at 56:60, produced its best spell. Augustine Rubit contributed eight points to a 14:0 run, Nikos Zisis drained a three to make it 70:60, and Bamberg went into the final period 77:71 ahead. It then did not allow the visitors to get any closer than five points (79:74). Although Perego’s players still struggled to prevent turnovers (5 in the final 10 minutes and 18 in the whole game), they were able to rely on their shooting accuracy, especially from outside, notching up 12 out of 21 attempted threes. Top scorer Ricky Hickman (19 points) added the final points in a lackluster 101:92 victory with a three, a lay-up and four free throws.

Federico Perego commented: “We knew we were playing against a team that can operate very well in attack. Crailsheim is strong one-on-one and we wanted to stop Turner and the other point guards. My team was able to exploit its physical advantages nicely, especially when it came to posting up. We’re back on track after the recent defeats. That’s the main thing. We didn’t do everything right, but we capitalized on our physical advantages below the basket.”