Bamberg dominates Paris behind 31 assists
Brose Baskets Bamberg had another dominant performance in front of its faithful fans, dishing 31 assists and leading from start to finish in 81-55 victory over Paris Levallois on Wednesday night. It is second consecutive win for Bamberg which improved to 2-1 in Group A, while Paris dropped to 1-2. The hosts opened the game with a 12-0 run, and put together a 15-2 run in the second quarter to open a 20-point lead and never look back. Bamberg’s 31 assists is tied for third best in Eurocup all-time, with record 34 assists held by Ted Ankara Kolejliler and Khimki Moscow Region, both last season. Trevor Mbakwe paced the winners with 17 points and Elias Harris scored 13. Karsten Tadda netted 11 with 6 assists, Janis Strelnieks also scored 11, while Brad Wanamaker had 8 points and 9 assists in victory. For Paris, Nicolas Lang and Blake Schilb had 11 apiece.
The hosts did not allow a single point for more than 6 minutes to start the game, while Harris scored 6 points, Ryan Thompson had a basket-plus-foul and Tadda a triple from 12-0. Schilb opened Paris account, before him and Lang nailed three-pointers to get within 14-10, but that is as close as the visitors got the entire night. Thompson ended the first quarter with a three-pointer for 19-10, and after a layup from Mike Green in the second for 23-16, Bamberg went on a 15-2 spurt to open up 38-18 lead. Strelnieks sparked the run with a triple, he later added another one, Mbakwe had a dunk and a block, and Harris scored 5 more points of his own. The hosts went into halftime up 45-27, and increased the lead early in the third behind a pair of triples from Tadda, 58-32. The visitors were held to baskets from Giovan Oniangue and Schilb in the last 8 minutes of the quarter, and Bamberg held 65-36 after 30 minutes. With the winner clearly decided, Lang and Malela Mutuale hit triples for the visitors, while Wanamaker assisted for baskets from Strelnieks. Daniel Theis broke the 30-point barrier with 2 minutes to go, 78-68, as Bamberg closed out the game.
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Eurocupbasketball.com