Baskonia thrashes visiting Bayern, 93-60

KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz protected its home court in style, running past visiting FC Bayern Munich 93-60 on Friday night. Both teams now hold 3-3 records and are tied with four other teams in the standings. Baskonia took little time to take care of business, using a 16-2 first quarter run to open a double-digit lead, then racing to a 25-point margin midway through the second quarter. Bayern got within 14 in the second half, but never closer than that. Tornike Shengelia led Baskonia with 19 points, and Matt Janning netted 16. Nik Stauskas scored 12 points and Achille Polonara 10 for the winners. Greg Monroe paced Bayern with 16 points, while Maodo Lo scored 12 in a losing effort.

Monroe opened the game well for Bayern, but it did not take long for the hosts to start dominating. After Stauskas hit a triple and Pierria Henry followed with a layup-plus-free throw, Shengelia netted 13 points, including a triple and a three-point play to open a 21-8 lead. Back-to-back threes from Shengelia and Janning made it 29-10 after 10 minutes. Lo hit a corner triple for the visitors, but Polonara hit a triple from top of the key and another from the right corner before Luca Vildoza also nailed one from downtown, extending the difference to 40-17 midway through the second quarter. Bayern's shots were not falling, while Baskonia doubled the visitors at 50-25 on a put-back dunk by Michael Eric. The hosts held 52-29 at halftime, and a transition triple from Stauskas meant a 57-31 advantage soon after the break. However, a three-pointer from Petteri Koponen, two triples from Lo, and one from Paul Zipser cut the difference to 57-43. Baskonia did not score for 5 minutes before Patricio Garino's triple ended the drought. Janning's last-second jumper made it 66-47 after three quarters. Janning opened the fourth with a triple to push the margin over 20 points again, and another three of his made it 77-52 half way through the final quarter, as Baskonia cruised to victory.

Total rebounding dominance

Baskonia took care of business on the glass in a dominant fashion, pulling down twice as many rebounds as the visitors, 42-21. Baskonia especially dominated the middle two quarters, with 12 rebounds to Bayern's 4 in second quarter and a 12-5 advantage in the third.

Three-point barrage

Baskonia needed 12 minutes to turn an early 5-6 deficit into a 42-18 lead with 5 minutes to go in the first half. Baskonia hit 8 of 11 triples in the first 15 minutes of the game, while Bayern made just 1 of 7 triples in that span.

Trend continues

This is a second double-digit win in as many home games for Baskonia at Buesa Arena, and the second loss by double figures in two road games Bayern through six rounds this season.

Next up

Next week in Round 7 both teams will be on the road. Baskonia goes to visit AX Armani Exchange Milan (5-1) on Thursday, while a day later Bayern travels to play Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul (1-5).