The champs turn on defense, run through Bamberg

Fenerbahce Dogus Istanbul turned in a fine defensive performance in handling Brose Bamberg 57-80 on the road on Friday night. It was a fourth win in the last five games for Fenerbahce, which improved to 4-2, while Brose dropped to 3-3 record. Fenerbahce made 7 three-pointers on its first 9 attempts in the first half, which opened a 14-point lead. Bamberg did not go away for a while, but never got closer than 7 points, either. However, a 0-15 fourth-quarter run sealed the deal. On a balanced offense, Jan Vesely paced Fenerbahce with 15 points, while Kostas Sloukas was all over the place with 11 points, 7 assists and 6 rebounds. Brad Wanamaker had 13 points, 6 points, 4 assists and 2 steals in his return to Bamberg. Luigi Datome scored 12, and James Nunnally netted 11 points in a victory. Augustine Rubit scored 12 points, and Maodo Lo 10 for Bamberg, which got its three-game winning streak snapped.

Bryce Taylor had a triple and a fastbreak dunk to score early for the hosts, but Marko Guduric hit a triple that sparked a 0-12 run by Fenerbahce. Brad Wanamaker also hit a three, and Vesely had a mid-range jumper and a basket in traffic to make it 7-16 early on. After a Brose timeout, Wanamaker hit his second three, but Luka Mitrovic once and Rubit twice from close range cut it to 16-21 after 10 minutes. Lo banked in a runner for the hosts, too, but Sloukas hit a three, and Nunnally had a runner and a three-pointer to restore 20-29 advantage. Ricky Hickman replied with a three of his own for Brose, but more shots from downtown for the visitors, back-to-back triples from Wanamaker and Nunnally, extended the margin to 23-37, as Fenerbahce made 7 of 9 three-point attempts to that point. But Lo and Wright helped cut the deficit before the break, as each hit one from long range, with Wright adding a pair of close-range baskets, too, making it 33-43 at halftime.

Datome opened the third quarter with an easy layup on a breakaway, but baskets were few and far between. Wright hit a runner and Rubit had a big dunk for the hosts, but Melli scored twice on the other end. Lo hit a triple for Brose, but Vesely replied with a three-point play that made it 40-52. A basket in the low post by Mitrovic and a mid-range jumper from Nikos Zisis cut it to 46-54 going into the fourth quarter. It took only 22 seconds in the final quarter for the home coach Andrea Trinchieri to call a timeout as he felt his team will struggle. Rubit had a big dunk, but that was Brose’s only basket in nearly 8 opening minutes of the quarter. Datome answered with a corner triple that made it 48-58, Sloukas and Jason Thompson each made a pair of free throws, and Thompson added a long jumper to open 48-64, putting Fenerbahce in complete control. Margin soon reached 20 points, as the visitors closed out the game.