Strelnieks's perfect shooting night carries Bamberg over Maccabi

Brose Bamberg snapped its four-game losing streak by downing Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv 90-75 at home on Thursday. Bamberg improved to 8-13 in the standings, while Maccabi dropped to 7-14. Janis Strelnieks paced the winners with 25 points on perfect shooting: 5-of-5 on two-pointers and 5-of-5 from downtown. Darius Miller added 17 points, Maodo Lo scored 11 and Daniel Theis 10 for Bamberg. Andrew Goudelock paced Maccabi with 22 points and D.J. Seeley added 19 on 12-of-12 free throw shooting. Maccabi locked down the defensive boards in the first half and did not allow Bamberg any offensive rebounds. It also hit 4 of 6 three-point shots (66.6%) to get a 41-43 edge at the break. Bamberg, indeed, only got 2 team offensive rebounds in the entire game, partly because of its outstanding shooting percentages - 68.5% inside the arc, 52.4% outside the three-point line and 100% free throws. Bamberg also dished 22 assists, had 5 blocks and committed 11 turnovers.

Nicolo Melli got Bamberg going with a turnaround jumper and Fabien Causeur added a corner triple for a 5-0 lead. Goudelock followed a turnaround jumper with a three-pointer and Devin Smith added a reverse layup for a 7-7 tie. Miller and Nikos Zisis stepped up for Bamberg, but a 0-7 run that Guy Pnini capped with a bomb from downtown gave Maccabi its first lead, 12-14. Theis hit back-to-back jumpers, but a jump hook by Victor Rudd, a dunk by Colton Iverson and a wild triple by Pnini gave Maccabi a 16-21 lead after 10 minutes. Seeley took over with a layup-plus-foul early in the second quarter. He got help from Yogev Ohayon and Devin Smith to force Bamberg to call timeout at 23-29. Vladimir Veremeenko rescued Bamberg with a three-point play and Lo hit a triple, but Seeley and an unstoppable Goudelock kept Maccabi in charge at 31-38. Goudelock hit a jumper and fed Joe Alexander for a layup, but Melli buried a jumper and Lo followed a three-pointer with free throws for a 41-43 Bamberg deficit at halftime. A layup by Alexander gave Maccabi a 43-47 edge soon after the break. Janis Stelnieks took over with a three-pointer and consecutive jumpers, prompting the visitors to call timeout at 52-51. Goudelock swished a jumper, but Miller scored in penetration, Theis added an alley-oop dunk and an unstoppable Strelnieks had 6 points, scoring a layup that fixed the score at 66-53 after 30 minutes. Strelnieks capped a 15-0 run with a three-pointer early in the fourth quarter. Goudelock and Seeley fueled an 0-8 run that gave Maccabi some hope at 72-64 with six minutes to go. Seeley had 6 unanswered points to get the visitors even loser, 76-70, but a jumper by Miller and free throws by Melli restored a double-digit Bamberg lead, 80-70, with three minutes left. Another three-pointer by Strelnieks and a two-handed dunk by Theis sealed the win in style.