Bamberg wins big in an all-German showdown

Brose Baskets Bamberg dismantled fellow German League rival Telekom Baskets Bonn 104-79 in Bamberg on Wednesday. Bamberg improved to 1-1 in Group A, while Bonn dropped to 0-2. The hosts paved the way to victory with a huge first half in which they scored 55 points and held a 16-point margin at halftime. After the break, the visitors never came closer than 12, and Bamberg cruised to a comfortable victory. Ryan Thompson led six Bamberg scorers in double figures with 22 points. Brad Wanamaker scored 16 with 10 assists and 5 steals. Trevor Mbakwe had 15 points plus 9 boards, Janis Strelnieks netted 14, and Elias Harris contributed with 12 points in victory. Eugene Lawrence had 19 points for Bonn, while Benas Veikalas and Angelo Caloiaro scored 13 apiece in defeat.

Bamberg got a quick start with Thompson hitting a triple, and Karsten Tadda and Mbakwe making easy baskets, but Lawrence scored first 9 points for Bonn, cutting it to 11-9. After Strelnieks and Veikalas traded three-pointers, Thompson and Wanamaker scored three fast breaks, including Wanamaker’s basket-plus-foul to end the first quarter at 23-15. The hosts’ offense did not stall for a second, with dunks from Mbakwe and Daniel Theis helping Bamberg to 30-17. Mickey McConnell nailed a pair of triples for Bonn, keeping the visitors in range at 35-26. But Strelnieks hit twice from downtown for Bamberg, and Thompson added a basket-plus-foul for 46-26. Tadda hit a triple, and Theis scored 4 points before the end of the quarter to add to the hosts’ tally, but Caloiaro hit a triple, before Lawrence scored a triple and a jumper, helping cut it to 55-39 at halftime.

Both offenses kept rolling in the third quarter, with teams scoring on each of the first nine trips down the floor. Basket-plus-foul from Caloiaro and triple from the same player cut it to 65-53, but Wanamaker and Mindaugas Katelynas scored for the hosts. Steve Wachalski hit a triple for Bonn, 71-58, but Strelnieks answered with one of his own, before Katelynas scored inside, and Wanamaker from long range for 81-60 after 30 minutes. Bamberg cruised from there, with Thompson extending the margin to 88-62. Ryan Brooks and Veikalas hit three-pointers for the visitors, but so did Tadda and Andreas Obst for Bamberg, rounding out the big win.