AND ONE!

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

Week 15 - April 8th 2014

Bamberg take first place for a day, ready for big showdown with Bayern

Brose Baskets Bamberg picked up two important road victories over FRAPORT SKYLINERS and Phoenix Hagen to initially take first place in the Beko BBL before falling back behind Bayern Munich after one day atop the league in an important week of action for the reigning champions.

Bamberg farm team Bike-Cafe Messingschlager Baunach provided another highlight by moving into the semi-finals of the ProB while the Brose club is asking for donations to help the family of former player and coach Rick Stafford.

Everything is set now for the biggest Beko BBL game of the season on Sunday April 13 as Bamberg host Bayern at Brose Arena with the winner taking the inside track to home court advantage throughout the playoffs.

Sanders, Smith carry team to win in Frankfurt

Bamberg started the important week with a hard-fought 64-54 victory on Wednesday April 2 at Frankfurt, who had beaten Bayern and ratiopharm ulm in back-to-back weeks at home. Rakim Sanders scored all 16 of his points in the first half while Jamar Smith carried Bamberg in the second half and finished with 18 points. D’Or Fischer added eight points, 11 rebounds and three blocks. The game saw playmaker Jared Jordan go down with an ankle injury, though he was able to play on against the Skyliners.

Bamberg, who were playing without the injured Anton Gavel, led 10-8 but struggled with the ball, committing six turnovers in the first quarter as Frankfurt went on a 12-0 run to take a 20-10 lead. Sanders knocked down a three at the first quarter buzzer to make it 20-13.

Sanders buried his third three of the game and added a later free throw to bring Brose to within 20-19. Sanders completed a three-point play to later in the quarter give Bamberg a 28-25 advantage. And the guests were up 29-27 at half-time

Brose opened the second half with the first six points to make it 35-27. Smith began to take over with two three-pointers and two free throws before two baskets from Maik Zirbes opened a 49-35 cushion. The gap was 49-37 after 30 minutes.

Bamberg continued to control play early in the fourth as Elias Harris and Casey Jacobsen knocked down treys as the lead was still 58-44 with five minutes left. Frankfurt fought back into the game, cutting the deficit to 58-50 with just more than three minutes to play. But Smith nailed two triples to make it 64-50 with 94 seconds left to finish off Frankfurt.

“It’s not easy to play here. Frankfurt have proven that over the last few weeks. They play very compact and are very well organized. They just hold teams under 70 points in this gym. They just do it,” said Bamberg coach Chris Fleming.

“I think we were tremendous defensively in the second and third quarters. We got a big lift offensively from Sanders in the first half and from Smith in the second half. They carried us over the 40 minutes. You could see that we still have work to do in offensive execution. It was really important for us to come here with the right attitude and get the job done.” 

Bamberg take first place without Gavel, Jordan

Bamberg were already without Gavel against Frankfurt and then Jordan missed the Hagen game on Saturday April 5 with a strained knee ligament. That meant even more playing time for John Goldsberry, who collected a double-double of 10 points and 11 assists in Bamberg’s 81-72 win over Hagen. Fischer collected 20 points, eight rebounds and three blocks while Smith scored 16 points, Harris had 12 and Sanders chipped in nine points, five rebounds and four assists.

“We really battled out there without Jared and Anton. And if there’s one thing you want to bring to Hagen it’s some guards. John once again showed his class. Daniel Schmidt helped us a lot setting up the offense as well,” said Fleming.

“We controlled the tempo, and in the second half we were much better playing our offense. We got the ball under the basket and Fischer got some easy looks. Hagen is a tough team to play.”

Smith said the main thing is the W.

“It was an ugly win but we got it done in the end when it counted. Everybody pitched in and helped with the point guard situation. John and Schmitty did a great job. We were able to control the pace of the game offensively. That was the key,” said Smith.

Bamberg fell behind early 9-2 and then 15-7 before Smith knocked down a three-pointer to cut it to five points. But Hagen continued to play strong, taking a 26-14 lead. The gap was down to 26-18 after one quarter.

Brose started buckling down defensively trailing 32-23, going on a 9-2 run over the next six minutes to pull to within 34-32. And Fleming’s men trailed 36-32 at halftime.

Goldsberry gave Bamberg the lead on a three to make it 37-36. There were six lead changes until Hagen knotted it at 51-51. Sanders sandwiched baskets around a Harris three to push Brose ahead 58-51. And it was 58-54 after three quarters.

Hagen evened the game at 60-60 before a Goldsberry three-ball, which was followed two baskets from Smith and a trey from Sanders to make it 72-62. Bamberg did not let up with Jacobsen hitting a big shot, Goldsberry making two free throws and Fischer converting a three-point play to finish the game for good at 81-68 with 97 seconds left.

As of Tuesday April 8, it was unclear if Gavel and/or Jordan will be fit to play on Sunday against Munich. About Jordan, Bamberg general manager Wolfgang Heyder said: “We hope that he can return by the middle of the week, that the swelling goes down so he can return to practice by Thursday to be ready for the big showdown against Bayern Munich.”

Baunach reach ProB semis

There was more good news within the club over the weekend as farm team Bike-Cafe Messingschlager Baunach beat RSV Eintracht Stahnsdorf 94-68 to secure a spot in the semi-finals of the ProB playoffs. Next up for Baunach is Schwelmer Baskets with the first game in Schwelm on Saturday April 12.

Call for donations to help Rick Stafford’s son Ricky

Brose Baskets Bamberg are calling out to all their fans to help the eldest son of former Bamberg player and coaching staff member Rick Stafford. The 15-year-old Ricky Stafford is suffering from lymphocytic leukemia and undergoing chemotherapy at Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City.

“What do you do when a family member needs your help? You help. As good as you can with whatever you can. We see ourselves as a basketball family, and when someone is a member of the family, then they remain that,” said general manager Wolfgang Heyder.

“Rick Stafford is definitely a part of the Bamberg basketball family. He was as a player and a coach and is still.”

Bamberg will collect donations at the Bayern Munich game on Sunday April 13. There is also an account set up to donate – Basketball Aid e.V at the Deutsche Bank Frankfurt, bank code 50070024, account number 737314505, designated purpose: Aktion Ricky.

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