AND ONE!

Weekly roundup for our English-speaking fans by David Hein.

Week 18 - April 29th 2014

Bamberg drop home game to Oldenburg, win at MBC

Brose Baskets Bamberg lost at home against EWE Baskets Oldenburg 82-75 before bouncing back for an 82-71 road win against Mitteldeutscher BC with one more game left before the Beko BBL playoffs are due to start. Farm team Bike Cafe Messingschlager Baunach meanwhile lost the first game of their two-game showdown with Baskets Akademie Weser-Ems/Oldenburger TB for the ProB title 82-74 at home.  And Anton Gavel and D’Or Fischer were named to the Beko BBL All-First Team and Jared Jordan to the Second Team.

The up-coming week will see Brose’s final regular season game on Thursday May 1 at home against Telekom Baskets Bonn while Baunach travel to Oldenburg for the final ProB contest of the season.

11-game winning streak snapped

Bamberg went into their showdown with Oldenburg on an 11-game winning streak, including a sweep in the 2013 Beko BBL Finals. But Chris Fleming’s men were unable to come up with the victory as they made just 4-of-20 three pointers and committed 15 turnovers compared to just six Oldenburg turnovers. Anton Gavel led the way with 15 points and four assists while Jamar Smith scored 12 points and both Fischer and Elias Harris added 11 points.

Bamberg were playing without the injured Jordan. The first lead of more than three points saw Oldenburg move ahead 11-7. John Goldsberry answered with a three-pointer and Smith’s long ball gave Bamberg the lead 13-12. The score was 16-16 after one quarter.

Harris scored six points early in the second quarter as the game remained tight at 26-26. And neither team could pull away until Karsten Tadda’s basket opened a 32-28 lead. And it was 34-30 with two minutes left before the break when Bamberg’s offense went cold and Rickey Paulding’s three at the buzzer gave Oldenburg a 37-34 lead at the break.

Paulding nailed another trey to start the second half but Gavel hit from long range and Fischer tallied four points in a 9-1 run as Bamberg moved ahead 43-41. But Oldenburg hit right back with an 8-0 surge for a 49-43 Oldenburg lead. A triple by the guests pushed the margin to 52-43. Smith’s three-ball stopped the 11-0 and Bamberg cut the deficit to 58-52 after three quarters.

Bamberg made four of six free throws to move within 58-56 before Oldenburg finally scored in the fourth. It was 62-60 when Oldenburg went on an 8-0 surge to open at 70-62 lead with less than four minutes to play. Smith cut the deficit to 74-71 with two minutes left but the Bamberg defense failed to come up with stop on two straight possessions and the lead was 78-71 with 38 seconds left to decide the game.

“They capitalized on our turnovers and turned them into points. And that hurts. We found the shots we wanted we just couldn’t hit anything. Still I think we’re on a good path,” said Harris.

“I wouldn’t overrate it. A lot of top teams have lost at home this season. At the end of the day, everything starts over for the playoffs and you just have to win a best-of-five series.

Fleming was happy with the team’s attitude but the offense tailed off at the end.

“We have to reduce our number of turnovers. They had 17 fast break points with nearly all of them came off turnovers. We have to be more consistent going through out sets. We were not disciplined enough offensively,” said Fleming.

Bamberg pull away from MBC late

Brose bounced back on the road at MBC thanks to Gavel scoring 18 points while Fischer had 15 points and Maik Zirbes had 12 points. Bamberg could have had a more convincing win but they missed 14 of 35 free throws and forced just six MBC turnovers.

Still, Bamberg were able to improve to 27-6 in the standings to remain in second place. A win over Bonn on Thursday will secure home court advantage in the first two rounds of the playoffs.

Brose scored the first seven points of the game and a Gavel three-pointer and three-point play helped the guests jump out to a 14-3 lead after six minutes. MBC pulled to within 17-14 with two three-balls but two Zirbes scores made it 21-14 after two quarters.

After Zirbes opened the second quarter with two free throws, MBC went on a 6-0 run to close the gap to 23-20. Smith nailed a long ball to start a 10-2 run to make it 33-22 for Bamberg. And a Gavel long ball pushed the margin to 40-29. Brose were up 40-33 at the break.

Karsten Tadda opened the second half with a trey and Harris scored to push the margin to 45-33. MBC cut it to four points at 52-48 before Bamberg led 59-52 after three quarters.

The hosts knocked down two three-balls as they trimmed the deficit down to 63-61. Fleming called a time-out and Casey Jacobsen responded with a three-ball and Gavel scored two baskets to push the lead back to 71-61. And it was 75-61 after a Goldsberry basket and Harris free throw with three minutes left. That essentially decided the game though MBC closed to within 80-71 with 28 seconds left.

“We have had problems with the start of games but the guys started really well here, especially our defensive energy thanks to (Shar)Rod (Ford) and Tadda. That set the tone for the rest of the game,” said Fleming.

“We had moments where we could have pulled away or even should have. And it would have been better to hit more free throws. But we found the answer that we needed. And I’m proud of the team for coming back from a really poor game on Friday (against Oldenburg).”

Bamberg general manager Wolfgang Heyder agreed with his coach.

“After the bitter loss on Friday, it was important that the team come back and they did. They deserve a big compliment. We really played like a team and everybody showed that they really wanted to win this important game,” said Heyder.

“Now we need to beat Bonn and go into the first round of the playoffs with some important confidence.”

Baunach lose first game of ProB finals

Bamberg farm team Bike Cafe Messingschlager Baunach started the ProB finals with the first game at home on Saturday April 26. But Baunach lost 82-74 at the Graf Stauffenberg School. Marcos Knight had 20 points, four rebounds and four assists and Daniel Schmidt added nine points and five assists but they were not enough. Andreas Obst went 2-of-11 from the field including 1-of-8 from long range in scoring eight points. The final game will take place on Saturday May 3 with Baunach needing a nine point win to win the ProB title.

Two All-First Teamers, Jordan in Second Team

Bamberg were recognized by the league for their performance this season with three players included in the Beko BBL All-First and Second teams. Anton Gavel finished third in MVP voting behind winner Malcolm Delaney of Bayern Munich and Reggie Redding of ALBA BERLIN. Gavel was joined on the Beko BBL All-First Team by teammate D’Or Fischer and MBC Angelo Caloiaro. Jared Jordan was named to the Second Team along with Bayern’s Bryce Taylor and Deon Thompson, Julius Jenkins from Oldenburg and Berlin center Leon Radosevic.

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