Brose Baskets Bamberg defended its home court by holding off a vicious comeback attempt by Lauretana Biella for an 87-85 victory and first place in Group H. After being down 16 points going into the final period, Biella charged back on a 8-26 run to take the lead. The hero for Brose was Brian Roberts, who hit a huge three-pointer in the final minute that was good for the win. Roberts led Bamberg with 16 points and Predrag Suput seconded him with 15 more. Tibor Pliess added 13 and Karsten Tadda and Anton Gavel scored 12 and 10, respectively. Pietro Aradori paced Biella with 19 points. Matteo Soragna chipped in with 15. Luca Garria scored 14 and Joe Smith tallied 12 in the losing effort.

Aradori opened the scoring with a three-pointer for Biella before Pleiss made 2 foul shots for the home side. Aradori then hit a jumper, but Tadda drained back-to-back threes for Brose. Sven Schultze hit back from long range for Biella. Pleiss rattled the rim with a dunk, and Tadda and Suput added a pair of layups. Aradori and Roberts exchanged field goals, and Brose was up 22-12 after 10 minutes thanks to a Suput triple and a layup by Gavel. Garri nailed a three on Biella’s first possession in the second quarter. Robert Garrett bracketed a jumper by Aradori with a pair of three-pointers to give Brose an 11-point lead, but Biella’s Kieron Achara and Soragna made a pair of buckets and Garri capped the 0-6 run with a 2-plus-1. Casey Jacobsen finally answered for the home side with a layup, but Garri attacked again and got another shot-plus-foul to cut the deficit to 30-27. Suput scored 4 points in a 6-0 spurt and Pleiss dunked again to give Brose a 43-35 advantage. Gavel put Brose up 10 points before Biella’s Smith dropped a three-pointer for his first points of the game. Brose went into halftime ahead 45-38.

Pervis Pasco stuck first with a layup for Biella to start the third quarter. Gavel, Tadda and Suput answered with 3 consecutive three-pointers for a 54-40 lead. Pasco dunked to stop the bleeding. Aradori scored 4 straight before Pleiss hit inside and Jacobsen nailed another three for Brose. Soragna made a two-pointer to reduce the difference, but Brose strung together free throws to go ahead 63-51. Beckham Wyrick hit a three-pointer for Brose. Achara made a pair of free throws, but Roberts answered with 2 of his own to end the third 68-52. Smith started the final period with a three-pointer and a foul for a rare 4-point play. Garri followed with a layup before Wyrick answered with a field goal. Soragna drilled a three to get the lead to single digits, 70-61. Achara kept Biella rolling with a two-pointer, but Roberts responded with a 2-plus-1 for the home team to reestablish a 10-poit lead. Achara hit again inside and Soragna nailed another three to force a Brose timeout at 75-70. Brose did not find the solution in the huddle as Smith and Soragna made threes to tie the game at 76-76 with four minutes to play. Aradori then took the lead for the visitors with a two-pointer. Pleiss tied it again with a dunk. Biella went up 79-83 on a three by Aradori. Roberts made a free throw and then nailed a three-pointer to reclaim a 1-point lead for Brose. Tadda went 1 of 2 from the foul line and Aradori missed a three that would have capped an amazing comeback win that just was not to be for Biella.