AND ONE

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

Week 17 - April 22nd 2014

 

Bamberg bounce back with two wins, Baunach promoted to ProA

Brose Baskets Bamberg were less than convincing but bounced back from their loss to Bayern Munich to earn victories at TBB Trier (69-63) and against RASTA Vechta (88-78). The club also saw farm team Bike-Cafe Messingschlager Baunach earn promotion to the ProA.

The up-coming week once again sees two games for Bamberg, who host fourth-placed EWE Baskets Oldenburg on Friday April 25 in a re-match of the 2013 Beko BBL finals and then travel to Weißenfels to play Mitteldeutscher BC on Sunday April 27. 

Smith gets hot in fourth quarter

Bamberg went right back to work after losing their big showdown against Bayern Munich with a game at Trier. But Brose struggled early on, missing their first four shots and watching Trier open a 6-0 lead. Jared Jordan nailed a three-ball at the 5:33 mark to finally get Bamberg on the scoring board. And the champs pulled to within 8-7 before two three-pointers helped the hosts push the lead to 16-7. Maik Zirbes ended a nearly three-minute scoreless stretch and his putback after an offensive rebound made it 16-10 for Trier after one quarter.

Bamberg trailed 18-12 before Jordan and Jamar Smith combined for all 13 points - including Smith’s trey for a 23-20 lead - in a 13-2 run to open a 25-20 gap. Rakim Sanders’ free throw increased the margin to 32-28, which was the score at the break.

D’Or Fischer and Sanders led a 10-2 start to the second half as Brose jumped ahead 42-30. Bamberg led 44-34 when Trier nailed three treys in an 11-0 run to nose ahead 45-44. Elias Harris ended a nearly five-minute scoreless drought with a free throw and then hit a three-pointer to make it 48-44. Trier tied it 48-48 after three quarters.

Harris’s three-point play started the fourth quarter and Smith drained a triple for a 58-50 advantage. Trier trimmed the lead to 61-57 before Smith nailed another long ball. Smith twice hit baskets to push the cushion back to six points and then went 4-of-4 from the free throw line in the final 18 seconds to ice the game.

Smith scored 11 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter and eight in the final 1:36 minutes. Fischer collected 10 points, five rebounds, two assists and six blocks, while Harris had nine points and six rebounds and Jordan chipped in nine points, three rebounds and four assists.

“I was satisfied in the end that the guys remained calm. It was a heated game, we had a lead and Trier fought back. But we kept our emotions in check,” said Bamberg coach Chris Fleming, who saw his team make just 5-of-22 three-pointers.

“We tried to execute and just stick to what we know at the end of the game,” said Smith. “We knew Trier would be focused and try hard at home.” 

Getting the job done on Easter Monday

Brose finally had a chance to play again in front of their home fans at the brose ARENA, after Freak City watched them lose to Bayern Munich. Playing without Jordan, Bamberg didn’t exactly shine but did just enough on Easter Monday April 21 to beat last-placed RASTA Vechta, who a week earlier had snapped their 12-game losing streak. 

Bamberg went up 7-0 but Vechta used a 7-0 run to move ahead 9-8. Bamberg went scoreless for nearly four minutes before two Sharrod Ford free throws and didn’t make a basket for more than five minutes before John Goldsberry’s trey for a 13-9 lead. Vechta reclaimed the lead 14-13 and were up 18-16 until Bamberg knotted it at 18-18 after one quarter.

Casey Jacobsen and Smith both knocked down threes early in the second quarter to make it 26-21 and a Sanders triple increased the margin to 35-27 before Zirbes converted a three-point play for a 41-32 cushion. Vechta scored at the buzzer to trim the margin to 41-36 at halftime.Karsten Tadda opened the third quarter with a three-ball and Ford pushed the gap to 46-36. But Vechta would not go away and cut it to 51-48. A technical foul led to four Vechta free throws as the guests crawled to within 55-54. But Harris answered with two long balls and Jacobsen also nailed a three-pointer to give Bamberg a 66-58 lead after three quarters.

A Goldsberry trey made it 71-60 early in the fourth and Zirbes tailed four points in an 8-0 run to increase the lead to 83-67 with less than five minutes left. Vechta however refused to give up and reeled off an 11-0 run to get Vechta within 83-78. Fischer would split two free throws and then come up with a big block on defense and Ford put back an offensive rebound with 47 seconds left for an 86-78 lead to secure the win.

Ford led the way with 16 points and eight rebounds while Zirbes had 17 points, four rebounds and two blocks. Harris added 12 points and Jacobsen scored 11. Bamberg won and improved to 26-5 despite getting out-rebounded 39-28. But Brose did collect 30 assists to nine turnovers.

“That wasn’t our best effort certainly. “We’re a better team than that tonight but we did get the win and we only have a couple weeks to get ready for the most important part of the season,” said Jacobsen. 

“It’s clear that we can play better, no doubt. But we got the job done and we’re looking ahead. We still have a bit to do. But there’s a big game on Friday against Oldenburg and hopefully Jared is fit by then,” added Flemming.

Baunach earns promotion to ProA

A few of weeks ago, Bamberg farm team Bike-Cafe Messingschlager Baunach were battling against relegation from ProB and barely snuck into the playoffs as the eighth seed. And now Baunach earned promotion to the ProA by reaching the ProB finals.

After beating UBC Tigers Hannover 2-1 in the first round and RSV Eintracht 2-0 in the second round of the playoffs, Baunach came back from a Game One loss against Schwelmer Baskets to reach the finals by beating Schwelmer 99-98 in Game Three in Schwelm to take the series 2-1. Markus Knight scored 28 points and Johannes Thiemann had 22 points and 11 rebounds in the win.

In the finals, Baunach will face off against Oldenburg farm team Baskets Akademie Weser-Ems/Oldenburger TB. Game One in Baunach is Saturday April 26 with Game Two away on Saturday May 3.

“This is the crowning of an unbelievable season! A few weeks ago we were on a relegation spot and barely qualified for the playoffs and now we are promoted to the ProA. That is incredible,” said Baunach team manager Jörg Mausolf.

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