German champ opens Last 32 with a big road win

Brose Baskets Bamberg opened its first Eurocup campaign in four years with a sounding 67-86 road win over BCM Gravelines Dunkerque on Wednesday night. Bamberg took the lead for good early in the encounter. Led by D'Or Fischer and Zach Wright, German champ opened up a big lead before halftime, and never looked back as Fischer finished with 20 points on 9-for-9 from two-point range, 5 rebounds and 2 blocks, while Wright had 17 points, 9 assists and 4 rebounds. Elias Harris scored 12, and Rakim Sanders chipped in with 10 in victory. For the hosts, Steven Gray had 18 points plus 6 rebounds, Marcus Lewis scored 10, and Ousmane Camara grabbed 12 rebounds along with his 8 points in defeat.

At the start of the game, Jonathan Rousselle hit a triple for 9-5, but Bamberg quickly replied. Sanders scored from long range, Fischer had a dunk and a jumper, before Casey Jacobsen hit from downtown for 11-17. Lewis and John Holland made put-backs for Gravelines, but Fischer hit a shot and assisted for Harris and 16-21 after 10 minutes. Harris hit a triple to start the second quarter, and Wright contributed with a steal and layup to extend it to 16-28 early in the second. Camara had another put-back for the hosts, and Juby Johnson nailed a three-pointer, forcing the visitors' timeout, but Karsten Tadda and Smith scored from long range, and Sanders had a fastbreak dunk for 29-42. Before half's end, Fischer hit another shot, and Wright buried a triple to give Bamberg 31-48 halftime lead.

Jacobsen hit a three-pointer and Anton Gavel had a layup to open the third quarter and 31-53. Gray had a jumper and a basket-plus-foul for Gravelines, but Fischer had a jumper and a dunk for 38-59. The hosts answered with a run fueled by Gray and Yakhouba Diawara, capped with a layup from Holland for 50-64. But Harris ended the third quarter with a triple, and Maik Zirbes scored three times inside at the start of the fourth for 54-73. Bokolo, Lewis and Gray tried to keep the hosts in touch, and Johnson hit from long range, but the Gravelines had no answer for Wright and Fischer who combined for 11 points, keeping the margin at 64-84, as the visitors closed out the game.