Dedovic paces Bayern in blowout of Lietkabelis

FC Bayern Munich used a big first half run to grab a comfortable 93-57 victory at home over Lietkabelis Panevezys and improve to 2-0 in Group B of the 7DAYS EuroCup. Bayern outscored Lietkabelis 28-0 over an 11-minute stretch spanning the first and second quarters to gain complete control of the game. Nihad Dedovic led the way for the hosts with 15 points as one of five Bayern players in double figures. Danilo Barthel added 12 points, Braydon Hobbs had 11 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists, and Alex King and Vladimir Lucic both chipped in 10 points. Zanis Peiners scored Lietkabelis’ first 11 points and ended up with 14 points as the Lithuanian club dropped to 1-1 in the group.

Reggie Redding started the scoring for Bayern with Peiners evening it. The Latvian wing started on fire for the visitors with a pair of three-pointers and reverse layup three-point play for all 11 points in helping Lietkabelis pull ahead 7-11. The advantage was 9-13 after a score from Ksistof Lavrinovic, but the guests went ice cold and were held scoreless the final four minutes of the quarter, while Barthel had 4 points to help Bayern score the final 8 points of the quarter and lead 17-13. The nightmare continued in the second quarter for Lietkabelis as the Lithuanian side could not hit anything. Bayern scored the first 20 points of the second quarter, including 4 more points from Barthel and three-pointers by Hobbs and Milan Macvan for a 37-13 lead. There was also a technical foul on Peiners and an unsportsmanlike foul on Vaidas Cepukaitis as Lietkabelis began getting frustrated. Kristof Lavrinovic’s three-pointer ended the 28-0 run and was Lietkabelis’ first basket in 10:52minutes. Adas Juskevicius added a three-pointer for the guests to make it 43-21, but Macvan hit from long range again and Dedovic ended the first half with a three-pointer at the buzzer for a 49-22 Bayern cushion.

Lietkabelis took advantage of getting Bayern quickly into the foul bonus in the second half and used Zygimantas Skucas free throws to climb as close as 53-27. Bayern was just too tough on defense and then started scoring on offense again with three-pointers from Stefan Jovic and Hobbs and 5 points from Dedovic in an 11-0 close to the third quarter for a 70-31 Bayern advantage. Bayern did not let up at all and could afford a four-point play by Lorenzo Williams to make it 72-37. King answered with 8 points, including back-to-back three-pointers, for an 81-37 lead. Donatas Tarolis took advantage of his playing time in the fourth quarter with 6 straight points while Lukas Aukstikalnis added 5 free throws as Lietkabelis took the final quarter 26-23 after scoring only 31 points in the first 30 minutes.

Bayern will travel to Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem next week, while Lietkabelis will host Grissin Bon Reggio Emilia.