Valencia rallies past Bayern in Munich

Valencia Basket shook off terrible first-half shooting to surge in the second and beat host FC Bayern Munich by 59-66 on Friday. Valencia held onto seventh place by raising its record to 12-12, while Bayern stayed in last place at 7-17. Bayern led by as much as 28-19 shortly before halftime, but Valencia's shooters came alive then and finally outgunned the hosts. Mike Tobey and Aaron Doornekamp led the winners with 11 points each, hitting all the big shots down the stretch. Vanja Marinkovic added 10 points for the winners. Bayern got 15 points from Greg Monroe and 10 each from Nihad Dedovic and Paul Zipser, but had too many of its own shooting difficulties to please the home fans.

Monroe scored 6 points as Bayern took the game's first significant lead at 9-4. Marinkovic hit the game's first triple and then scored 3 points the hard way as Valencia surged in front, 9-12 and held onto a 13-15 edge after 10 minutes. Zipser dunked, Dedovic hit a layup and Zan Sisko dropped a floater to restore Bayern's lead, 19-15, as Valencia missed triple after triple. Bojan Dubljevic ended more than 6 minutes that Valencia went without a field goal. Monroe and Zipser returned inside to lengthen Bayern's lead to 26-19. Only Dubljevic could score for Valencia, but just enough to get the visitors within 28-21. Tobey hit the game's second triple for Valencia, but a tip-in by Monroe at the halftime buzzer left Bayern in charge, 30-24. Marinkovic scored out of the locker room before Fernando San Emeterio and Maurice Ndour blasted triples as Valencia seized the lead, 30-32. Mondroe broke the ice for Bayern to tie, but Ndour hit again from deep. Petteri Koponen downed Bayern's first three-pointer after 10 tries to re-take the lead at 37-36. Monroe and Josh Huestis kept it going to a 41-36 difference. Aaron Doornekamp buried Valencia's fourth and fifth three-pointers of the quarter, but Koponen hit his own to let Bayern stay ahead 46-45 after 30 minutes. The scoreboard flipped back and forth in the final quarter on triples by Alberto Abalde and Vladimir Lucic, free throws by Kopenen and a pair of dunks by Tobey, who soon fired in a second-chance triple as Valencia took a 52-55 lead with under 5 minutes left. Abalde added layup and Doornekamp another triple as Valencia surged ahead 53-62 entering the final minute. Dedovic's free throws were followed by his and Zan Sisko's steals and layups to make it 59-62 with 41 seconds left. But Doornekamp got behind the Bayern press for an easy basket and Quino Colom hit insurance free throws as Valencia took the win back to Spain.

Pivotal performer

Big man Mike Tobey was playing his first EuroLeague road game of the new year for Valencia after dealing with injuries, but came up with timely contributions all over the court, with 11 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists in just 18 minutes that very much proved the difference for Valencia.

Key sequence

This was nobody's game with 5 minutes left and a 52-52 tie on the scoreboard. That's when Tobey rained his second triple, Alberto Abalde scored on an inbounds play, and Aaron Doornekamp dialed up his third shot from the arc to make it 52-60, which turned out to be enough points to take the win.

Shooting recovery

Valencia made just 2 of 17 three-pointers in the first half, but to start the second, Fernando San Emeterio and Maurice Ndour combined for 3 that lit a fuse soon joined by Doornekamp. Valencia would make 8 of 14 second-half triples. That proved too much for Bayern, which struggled with 3-for-22 accuracy from the arc.

Next games

After a week off for national cups, nothing gets easy for Bayern, which next hosts first-place Anadolu Efes Istanbul on Friday, February 21. That same night, Valencia goes home to face another top team in the standings, Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv.