Brose Baskets Bamberg cruises past Sassari
Brose Baskets Bamberg completed the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Regular Season in fine fashion with an 86-54 victory at home over Dinamo Banco di Sardegna Sassari. Nikos Zisis tallied 16 points with Daniel Theis and Janis Strelnieks both scored for 12 points for Bamberg, which snapped a two-game losing streak to finish with a 6-4 record in Group D. Lucca Staiger added 10 points as all 11 Bamberg players who played scored. Sassari got 14 points from Marquez Haynes, but it was not enough for the team’s first victory. Sassari finished at 0-10 in the group - the first time a Euroleague team failed to win a regular season game since Cibona Zagreb went 0-10 during the 2010-11 season.
First quarter: Sassari held scoreless over final 2:45
Bamberg had already secured its spot in the Top 16 and Coach Andrea Trinchieri made four changes to his starting line-up with Brad Wanamaker the only returnee alongside Strelnieks, Patrick Heckmann, Theis and Leon Radosevic in favor of Zisis, Darius Miller, Elias Harris and Nicolo Melli. Sassari coach Marco Calvani meanwhile swapped two players in his first five with Giacomo Devecchi and Brian Sacchetti starting for David Logan and Jarvis Varnado alongside Haynes, Joe Alexander and Christian Eyenga. Radosevic started the scoring for Bamberg by putting back a miss and Strelnieks’s lay-up made it 4-0. Devecchi’s three was Sassari’s first score. Wanamaker followed with a jumper and Theis knocked down a three-pointer as the lead grew to 9-3. Eyenga stole the ball from Wanamaker and Alexander hit a layup before a Haynes jumper and a Devecchi three-pointer gave Sassari its first lead, 9-10. Theis answered with a triple from the right corner, but Matteo Formenti's jumper knotted the game at 12-12 and Alexander’s jumper in the lane put Sassari back ahead 12-14, which prompted Trinchieri to call timeout. Bamberg came out of the break with the answers defensively as Sassari was held scoreless over the final 2:45 minutes of the quarter. Zisis had a basket, an assist and 2 free throws before Miller added free throws as Bamberg went up 20-14 after 10 minutes.
Second quarter: Bamberg use three-pointers to pull-away
Rok Stipcevic got Sassari going right away in the quarter with a three-pointer from the right corner and Yassin Idbihi scored first for Bamberg with a reverse layup. Devecchi nailed a triple from the right corner to get the guests to within 22-20. But Idbihi’s hook shot was followed by back-to-back threes from Staiger and Strelnieks for the first double-digit lead, 30-20, and a Sassari time out. Eyenga finally got on the scoreboard and then hit a triple from the left wing before a Haynes layup cut the deficit to 32-27. Bamberg was not fazed and Heckmann drained a three-pointer from the left wing, Theis hit a tough layup and Miller knocked down a baseline jumper to build a 41-28 advantage. Stipcevic ended the run with a three from the left wing and it was 41-33 after Alexander free throws. But Zisis and Staiger both hit three-pointers in the final 38 seconds of the second quarter for a 49-33 Bamberg lead at intermission.
Third quarter: Sassari comes alive with 3-14 run
Zisis started the second half with a layup and Radosevic’s put-back had Bamberg ahead by 20 points for the first time, 53-33. Sassari could not find the bottom of the basket in the third quarter and missed its first 7 shots after the break, while Zisis pushed the lead to 57-33 with a three-pointer. Haynes finally got Sassari on the board in the quarter with a three-pointer with 5:34 minutes left. Eyenga and Sacchetti combined for 3 free throws to cut the gap to 57-39. Eyenga’s driving lay-up made it 58-41 and Sassari was within 60-47 after three-pointers from Haynes and Stipcevic. Strelnieks ended the 3-14 Sassari run with 2 free throws and Aleksej Nikolic knocked down a three-pointer to get the margin to 65-47. Strelnieks added 2 more free throws as Bamberg once again led by 20 points, 67-47.
Fourth quarter: Bamberg never slows down
Radosevic opened the quarter with a three-point play with Haynes scoring at the other end to make it 70-49. Zisis scored 4 straight points as the lead hit 25 points for the first time. Haynes answered with a tough jumper with the shot clock running down, but Bamberg kept up the pressure with Miller scoring outside and Theis hitting inside to increase the lead to 78-51 with five minutes left to play. Alexander split free throws for the guests, but Bamberg remained relentless with the next 6 points to increase the advantage to 84-52 with two minutes to play as the local supporters cheered on.

Thursday, December 17, 2015
Euroleague.net