Bayern rallies late to sink Zvezda

Wade Baldwin IV and Vladimir Lucic hit a series of clutch shots late in the game to lift FC Bayern Munich to a 76-78 road win over Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade on Tuesday. The win improved Bayern's record to 17-10, while already-eliminated Zvezda suffered its seventh consecutive defeat and dropped to 7-19 on the season. Bayern trailed for the majority of the night and was down by double digits in the third quarter, however, Baldwin kept Bayern in range before Lucic scored all of his 10 points in the final 4 minutes of the game to turn things around. Baldwin, playing with 4 personal fouls for the majority of the second half, finished with 27 points, while Jalen Reynolds added 12 in a victory. Jordan Loyd carried Zvezda with 26 points, Corey Walden scored 15, and Ognjen Dobric netted 13 with 6 rebounds.

Baskets were few and far between to start the game. Zvezda needed more than 5 minutes to open its tally with a runner from Loyd, but Bayern had only a pair of baskets to show for during that opening span, too. Reynolds scored inside and followed it up with a long jumper to help Bayern open a 4-8 lead. Loyd nailed a triple, but a three-pointer from Zan Mark Sisko made it 7-13. Walden answered with a three-pointer of his own, but Reynolds fought to make a hook shot late in the first and another close-range basket early in the second, however, Aleksa Uskokovic sparked an 8-0 run, during which Marko Jagodic-Kuridza and Dobric knocked down a triple apiece to make it 20-17. A pair of easy layups from Loyd, followed by a three-point play from Uskokovic extended the margin to 27-19 midway through the second quarter, but Baldwin had a short jumper and a transition triple, before Sisko's three-pointer cut it to 29-27. Sisko had another triple, his third, before the end of the half, but Loyd kept the hosts in front, 35-31 at halftime.

Reynolds scored the first 5 points of the third quarter, including a three-point play, but the hosts answered with a basket-plus-foul from Walden and a three-pointer from Marko Simonovic to help get to 43-36. Nick Weiler-Babb hit a triple, but runners from Walden and Dobric helped open a 51-41 margin, while Baldwin picked up his fourth personal foul. But D.J. Seeley hit a three for the visitors and after a pair of baskets from Dobric, Baldwin nailed a three-pointer at the buzzer to cut it to 57-50 after three quarters. A triple from Dejan Davidovac extended the margin to 62-54, but James Gist and Baldwin kept Bayern in touch. Loyd scored twice - from close range and a jumper with his toes on the three-point line, but a transition triple from Lucic cut it to 68-66 with 3:43 left. A jumper from Lucic put Bayern up for the first time in the second half, 68-70, but Loyd answered by beating the shot-clock with an improbable triple. However, Lucic nailed another three and then Baldwin followed with a three of his own, making it 71-76 with 39 seconds to go and securing Bayern's win.

Lucic heroics

Playing in his hometown, Vladimir Lucic was scoreless for more than three and a half quarters, but then fueled Bayern's comeback by nailing two triples and a jumper in the final 3:43 of the contest, finishing with 10 points.<7p>

Not foul-troubled

Wade Baldwin IV finished the game with 27 points, but 16 of those came late in the third and in the fourth quarter with him carrying four personal fouls. He made 7 of 10 two-point shots and 3 of 4 triples.

Rebounding woes

No Bayern player had an offensive rebound to his name in this game. The visitors had just 3 offensive rebounds for the night, but all were team rebounds.

Shining Loyd

Zvezda guard Jordan Loyd finished the game with 26 points. It was the ninth time this season he's scored 20 or more points.

What's next

Bayern will be in action again already on Thursday when it hosts Panathinaikos OPAP Athens in Round 28, while Zvezda travels to play Olympiacos Piraeus a day later.