Brose Bamberg wins comfortably by 93:77 on Hickman’s comeback

The almost two-week break for the internationals have visibly done a lot of good for Brose Bamberg: The team of Head Coach Ainars Bagatskis was able to hone its offensive systems, strengthen its defense and better integrate Bryce Taylor, who had been out for injury for a long time, and Ricky Hickman on his return. The reward: an easy 93:77 victory on the road at bottom-of-the-table HAKRO Merlins Crailsheim.

Ricky Hickman is back in a Bamberg outfit: After being out for four months due to injury (the American player had to undergo a foot operation in July), the playmaker rejoined his old and new teammates in a non-public test game against the MBC (91:73) a week ago. In the Hohenlohe Arena, Ainars Bagatskis began with the experienced guard in the starting five – and Hickman was full of motivation after his screwed-up last season, chalking up 12 points, five rebounds, four assists and a steal in his almost 22 minutes on court. On top of that, he also made his mark in defense on a number of occasions, when his strong positional play or nimble fingers forced Crailsheim’s playmakers into making mistakes or poor passes. And – which was rare last season – the American did not concede a single turnover. Right in the opening minutes against Crailsheim, Hickman impressed with the calm way he built plays and set up his teammates with wonderful passes. The beneficiary was Augustine Rubit: The top scorer notched up eight of his 14 points in the first ten minutes. Nevertheless, the home side remained in contention up to the ninth minute, when Bamberg led by just two points (23:21). However, Maurice Stuckey and Bryce Taylor drained two buckets from downtown in succession to stretch the gap to 29:22 at the end of the first period. Bamberg then decided the encounter in the first six minutes of the second quarter: Six straight points by Cliff Alexander (11 points), lay-ups from Tyrese Rice (10) and Maurice Stuckey and a slam-dunk by Augustine Rubit helped produce a run of 12 points without reply to make it 41:25. In particular, Bagatskis’ players defended better than in past weeks and Tyrese Rice and Bryce Taylor kept the shackles on the up to then outstanding Crailsheim playmaker Ben Magden effectively at all times. After Bamberg went in at half-time with a 52:34 lead, Crailsheim reduced the gap twice to 14 points after the break (40:54, 57:71), but each time top scorer Stevan Jelovac went down the other end and buried a three in the opposing side’s basket. The Serbian player chalked up nine of his 14 points from beyond the arc. Bamberg went into the final period leading 79:59 and after Elias Harris (11 points) gave his side its highest lead of the encounter after 35 minutes (87:65), the visitors played out the game and Crailsheim was able to put a slightly better complexion on the final score.

Ainars Bagatskis commented: “In my opinion, the Merlins are a very dangerous team, especially at home and if you underestimate them. We didn’t play well in defense in the first period and there were some moments where we didn’t stick to our plan. However, we were very good in offense and defense in the second quarter. I’m not satisfied with the final period, because as a coach you want to see a focused performance over the entire 40 minutes. But at the end of the day, the most important thing is that we won the game.”