Brose Baskets downed Spirou 79-69

Brose Baskets Baberg kept pace in Turkish Airlines Euroleague Group B with a 79-69 Wednesday night win at Stechert Arena over still winless Spirou Charleroi, which worsened its odds to make it to the Top 16 stage with seven games left to play in the regular season. Bamberg got the win thanks to stellar play by Kyle Hines, who led the hosts with 16 points, Reyshawn Terry with 15, Predrag Suput with 13 and Casey Jacobsen, who totaled 12 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists. It was a strong defensive performance in the final quarter that made the difference in a tight game for Chris Fleming’s crew, who will travel to the Spanish capital to face Real Madrid in Week 4. The game was knotted at 58-58 after three quarters, but the German champs started the fourth with a 14-0 blitz that iced the outcome. Andre Riddick led the Belgian champs with 13 points, Joseph Gomis added 12, Chris Hill 11 and Brent Wright and Demond Mallet netted 10 each. Spirou travels to play Olympiacos next week

The start of the game was fast paced with the hosts wanting to set the tempo: when they weren’t pushing the ball upcourt, Brose featured Suput in the post, both as a scorer and facilitator. But Gomis scored 6 early points for Charleroi, which went up 6-14 after a nifty layup by the guard and a deep three by Mallet. Still, Brose countered with 5 straight points by Anton Gavel. Riddick and Daniel Santiago manned the paint defensively for Charleroi, but that did not deter Terry from making one of the plays of the game with an impressive drive and reverse layup. On the next possession though, Riddick made his own highlight case with a runaway dunk that left matters Charleroi up 13-16, and Hill closed the opening quarter with a layup that put his team ahead by five.

With consecutive Mallet baskets and the third dunk of the game for veteran center Riddick, the visitors built their lead up to 9 by midway through the second quarter. Brose Baskets did not despair, though, and kept running its halfcourt sets with Suput operating from the low post and Jacobsen calmly running the point. A 5-0 run after a Chris Fleming timeout started turning things around for the home team as Hines completed a three-point play with a Santiago foul and Jacobsen made it 8-0 with a corner triple. As Spirou tried to counter the host’s 3-2 zone defense with one-on-one play in the perimeter, mainly by an inspired Gomis, Brose kept plowing through and finally broke through thanks to consecutive plays by Suput, who tied the game at 33-33 with a layup and then put his team ahead 36-33 with a triple. As the Serbian forward mustered 7 points in the quarter, Riddick closed the scoring, again with a monster dunk, leaving things equal at the break, 38-38.

Brose Baskets tried to pull away to start the third and counted heavily on Terry’s inspired play at both ends of the floor, but Spirou’s veteran inside combo of Santiago and Riddick caused havoc in the paint. A hustle three-point play by the latter put Giovanni Bozzi’s squad ahead again, 46-49, and from then on, the period seemed to turn into a three-point contest. With the paint sealed off by the big men, both teams turned heavily towards perimeter shooting, and totaled 11 triples in the quarter, making six. With 20 points apiece in the period, it ended leveled at 58-58.

The trend seemed to continue in the final ten minutes. Or at least Jacobsen felt the shooting touch, as he converted a long bomb three minutes in that gave the home team a 5-point cushion. Terry kept the hot hand going, hitting jumpers, and the hosts started moving the ball well and moving even better without it, creating creases in Charleroi’s defensive settings. On one of those, Jacobsen drove the lane and spun in for a layup and the foul, making a three-point play and a 63-58 difference in the scoreboard.

Bozzi’s side tried to contest on the offensive end with sets featuring Mallet and Gomis, but Bamberg sealed off the basket for the first seven minutes of the quarter. The impressive defensive effort netted the win for a home squad that finished off in style with a Hines breakaway dunk on a no look assist from Gavel. A fast-paced play that highlighted a tough win over a determined opponent.