Bamberg rallies from 12 down to edge Unics
Brose Bamberg outlasted Unics Kazan 89-86 on Thursday at Brose Arena for its maiden win of the season. Unics suffered its second loss in as many games. Janis Strelnieks shined with 17 points for the winners, including the go-ahead three in the final minute. Nikos Zisis scored 16 points and sent 12 assists, Nicolo Melli and Darius Miller added 15 points apiece. The German champs made 22 of 23 free throws in an impressive shooting effort led by Melli, who was perfect on 7 tries. For Unics , Keith Langford led the way with 24 points, Coty Clarke added 20 plus 7 rebounds, Quino Colom scored 15, Artsiom Parakhouski 11 and Anton Ponkrashov had 7 assists in defeat. Unics fell despite outpacing their opponents in rebounding (37 to 26). Bamberg faces Panathinaikos Superfoods Athens in its next EuroLeague game, while Unics plays Darussafaka Dogus Istanbul.
The teams traded blows early on. A triple from Zisis gave Bamberg its first lead, 9-7, but Unics went back ahead with 8 free throws without a miss from Colom and Clarke. However, a three-point play from Daniel Theis and a three-pointer from Lucca Staiger gave the hosts a 19-17 edge after 10 minutes. Unics pulled away at the start of the second quarter behind Clarke, who scored 7 quick points, including a triple that sparked a run that got the visitors to 25-34. Bamberg’s offense picked up its rhythm, too, and back-to-back three-point plays from Strelnieks and Melli got Bamberg within a single point, before Unics went into halftime up 41-44. The visitors pulled away again at the start of the third behind Langford and Parakhouski, and the margin reached double digits on Clarke’s triple, 45-55. The advantage soon reached 12
points, but the hosts did not intend to go away. Unics went into the final stanza up 60-67, but Bamberg continued to melt the deficit. Miller, Zisis and Strelnieks combined to score 17 points for the hosts. During that stretch, a wide-open transition corner-triple from Strelnieks put the hosts back in front, 75-74, and a driving layup from Zisis made it 86-82, and Bamberg sealed the win from the free throw line in the final minute.
Thursday, October 20, 2016
Euroleague.net