FIBA Europe Cup: Brose Bamberg flies out in quarterfinals

The dream of the first international title is over for Brose Bamberg! In the quarterfinals of the FIBA Europe Cup, coach Oren Amiel's team lost to the Estonians from BC Kalev / Cramo. Although Brose Bamberg had a good chance of advancing in the home second leg after the narrow 77-80 defeat, the Estonians benefited from a weak performance by Bamberg from the start and clearly dispatched the cathedral city team 67-85.

The surprise of the evening was unfortunately only before the start of the game: Captain Chris Sengfelder, who had badly twisted his ankle last Saturday in the game against the MBC, warmed up with the team and was also in the starting five after a quick recovery. In the first quarter, Bamberg kept up to some extent, a 7:13 deficit was reduced to 13:15 by Patrick Miller, Gerel Simmons and Amir Bell. All five points resulted from free throws, because the boys from Estonia acted very physically in the defense and made it difficult for Bamberg to get through. Especially Gerel Simmons created his own throws and kept Bamberg in the game with eleven points after ten minutes. Offensively, Bamberg could not reproach themselves until the break, 60 percent of the two-point shots landed in the basket, but defensively Bamberg allowed too much and Kalev pulled away to 38:51.

After the change of ends, Chris Sengfelder hit his first long-range shot, the 3200 spectators cheered the 46:51 and hoped for a comeback. But the Bamberg fans were disappointed. By the time Sengfelder hit his second three-pointer three minutes later, Kalev had pulled away to 46:57. Especially under the basket, the offensive behavior in the second half was indisputable: only one goal from the two-point range in thirteen throws succeeded the Amiel boys in 20 minutes. The guests continued to pull away until the final score of 65:83.

Oren Amiel (head coach Brose Bamberg): "Sometimes you think you can achieve everything. Then the opponent comes along, simply plays better and deserves to win. Now we will see if we are strong enough to recover from this blow and continue our winning streak in the BBL."

On Saturday, March 18, 2023, however, Brose Bamberg will be looking to extend its Bundesliga streak of five straight wins and cement its playoff spot. Starting at 6 p.m., the Rostock Seawolves are the guests; Bamberg won the first leg 97-86.

For more information, visit www.brosebamberg.de and www.easycredit-bbl.de.