Valters, Tucker shine in Ankara win at Bamberg

Aykon TED Ankara Kolejliler took over sole possession of first place in Group J with a 94-84 victory at Brose Baskets Bamberg with four players scoring at least 17 points. Kristaps Valters led the way with 26 points and 7 assists while Clay Tucker added 22 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists for Ankara, which improved to 3-1 with its second straight win over Bamberg. Vanja Plisnic had 18 points and Vladimir Golubovic chipped in 17 points and 8 rebounds. Brose dropped to 2-2 despite Rakim Sanders scoring 15 points. Casey Jacobsen and D’Or Fischer both had 13 points and Zack Wright added 10.

Bamberg jumped ahead 8-0 before Tucker opened Ankara’s scoring with a three-pointer. Wright had scored seven points to help the hosts lead 14-6. Aykon hit the next eight points to knot the game and the guests took their first lead at 19-20 with on Plisnic’s three-ball. Golubovic and Plisnic added baskets to give Ankara a 19-24 cushion, which was trimmed to 25-26 after one quarter. After Aykon moved up 30-36, Bamberg would get back to within 34-36. But Valters scored five points and Tucker nailed a trey in a 0-13 run for a 34-49 lead. The score was 36-49 at intermission. Bamberg hit the first five points of the second half but another Valters long ball increased the margin to 41-54. Jacobsen’s fourth trey of the night sparked a 12-2 Bamberg surge to cut the deficit to 53-56 and it was 62-63 after Jamar Smith’s three-pointer. The score after three quarters was 62-65. Sanders brought the hosts to within one point again at 64-65. But Tucker answered with a trey and Aleksandar Rasic and Valters hit back-to-back baskets to increase the gap to 64-72. Bamberg would pull back to within 68-72 but once again Ankara was too strong offensively with Rasic scoring five points in a 0-9 surge to make it 68-81 with four minutes left. Brose did not get closer than 11 points until Sanders’ three-pointer at the buzzer.