Bamberg soars by 20 over Barcelona!

Brose Bamberg continued its climb from the bottom of the standings by holding firm at home for an 85-65 victory on Thursday over visiting FC Barcelona Lassa. Both teams now have 7-9 records now, just outside the playoff positions, but Bamberg has a tie-break advantage between them because Barcelona won their first game by just 4 points. Bamberg's defense was aggressive from the start and forced Barcelona into 18 turnovers, while just four players of the hosts outscored the visitors. Darius Miller hit 6 of 8 three-pointers on his way to 20 points. Janis Strelnieks matched him. Nicolo Melli added 17 plus 13 rebounds, while Daniel Theis scored 11. Barcelona got 19 points from Tyrese Rice but no one else escaped single digits, although Aleksandar Vezenkov sparked a 3-18 run over the last two quarters that got the visitors within six points twice, the last time at 66-60 with 5:36 to play. Miller's sixth triple and one he dished for Theis ended that threat and there were no more as Bamberg outscored Barcelona 19-5 the rest of the way.

Miller struck from downtown to open the scoring and Melli soon dropped a jumper for a 5-0 Bamberg lead. Juan Carlos Navarro got Barcelona on the board with a back-door layup before Rice struck from deep for a 5-5 tie. Miller broke it with his second triple but Justin Doellman matched him at 8-8. Navarro's step-back triple gave Barcelona its first lead, but Miller landed his third for another tie. Ante Tomic finished inside and Rice buried a long two-pointer as Barcelona went up 11-15. Fabien Causeur and Doellman exchanged short baskets before Strelnieks struck from the corner to end the first quarter 18-17. To start the second, Alex Renfroe said hello with a three-pointer against his former team as Barcelona regained a lead, but Leon Radosevic scored inside for another tie and Strelnieks broke it with yet another triple, 23-20. Petteri Koponen's free throws were answered by a layup from Theis at 25-22. Melli made a steal at one end and a tip-in at the other, then drop-stepped for another basket at 29-22. Renfroe stroked from the arc Navarro found Tomic for a dunk to keep Barcelona close, but Radosevic's tip-in and Jerel McNeal's first EuroLeague basket made it 35-27. After a Rice layup, Miller measured his fourth triple without a miss as Bamberg surged to a 40-31 halftime lead.

Melli powered in a layup and faded away for a jumper at 44-31 to start the second half. Baskets by Tomic and Rice settled Barcelona until Strelnieks poured in a triple and free throws at 49-35. When Melli dropped a long jumper and Causeur a deeper one, the Freak City fans were roaring with their team ahead 54-35. Rice got a basket back that Radosevic answered with an alley-oop slam. Free throws and a triple by Aleksandar Vezenkov cut the difference to 57-43 before he and Melli exchanged inside baskets. Then Rice broke loose with a layup to end the third quarter 59-47. Vezenkov kept it rolling with a layup to open the fourth and Rice added his own to extend Barcelona's run to 3-15 and cut the difference to 59-47. Rice's layup and Brad Oleson's put-back cut the lead further, to 59-53, before Miller answered to calm the hosts. Strelnieks followed with a two-pointer then fed Theis for a slam. Free throws by Tomic and a triple from Oleson made it a six-point game again, 66-60, but Miller was ready with his sixth triple and then dished to Theis for another and suddenly it was 72-60. Another Strelnieks-to-Theis alley-oop and a solo second-chance dunk by the latter got Bamberg in sight of the win. When Koponen and Olson cut the difference to 76-65, Causeur stole and made a layup, then Melli rebounded and slammed going into the final minute at 80-65 as Bamberg rolled to another home victory.