Demond Greene netted a season-high 18 points to lead Brose Baskets Bamberg to its first win of the season, 78-62, over Partizan Igokea at the JAKO Arena in Bamberg, Germany. The hosts' game plan worked to perfection as Partizan's top players, including Nikola Pekovic, found themselves in early foul trouble, allowing the German champs to race out to double-digit lead at the end of the first period. The lead grew to 34-17 midway through the second period and sat at 41-27 at halftime. Bamberg fought its way back in the third period and got within 6 on a Dusan Kecman on a three-pointer to start the fourth quarter. But Darren Fenn stepped up a pair of threes that allowed Bamberg to hold on for the win. The win sees Brose Baskets improve to 1-5 and fight its way into the race for a Top 16 spot, while Partizan dropped to 3-3. Fenn finished with 17 points, Predrag Suput had 15, Steffen Hamann 12 and Ademola Okulaja grabbed 10 rebounds. Kecman led Partizan with 20, Pekovic posted 14 and Novica Velickovic had 13 points and 13 rebounds.
Fenn opened the scoring with a jumper before Kecman answered with a three-pointer and Pekovic scored his first basket for an early 2-5 Partizan advantage. Layups by Hamann and Greene put Bamberg ahead and Greene knocked down a long ball for an 11-7 cushion. Velickovic's foul shot trimmed the margin to 13-10, but Suput drained a three-pointer for an 18-10 lead and forced a Partizan timeout. Three Suput free throws pushed the lead to 11 before Kecman hit a jumper. Hamann's foul shot left Bamberg up 22-12 after one period.
 Chris Ensminger's jumper opened the scoring for the hosts in the second period, but Uros Tripkovic finally hit a three-pointer for a 24-15 margin. Fenn put back an offensive rebound, but missed the bonus free throw. Partizan found itself in serious foul trouble as Pekovic and Milenko Tepic both had three fouls and Kecman, Tripkovic and Petar Bozic all strapped with two with six minutes left in the half. Fenn scored another inside basket and Greene's three-ball pushed the Bamberg advantage to 34-17. Velickovic answered with back-to-back three-pointers, but Okulaja knocked down a triple of his own to re-establish a 14-point lead. Two Hamann foul shots pushed the cushion to 41-25. Partizan boss Dusko Vujosevic re-inserted Pekovic late in the half and the big man dunked with one second left for a 41-27 Bamberg lead at the break.
Partizan pounded the ball inside to start the second half as Velickovic scored on a put-back and Kecman hit an inside lay-up to trim the lead to 10. Two Velickovic foul shots but the margin to 43-35, but Ensminger put back an offensive rebound and Greene knocked down a three-pointer before Fenn scored on an offensive rebound for a 50-37 advantage. Tim Ohlbrecht came up with an impressive block on Pekovic and coach Vujosevic ended up getting a technical foul, which Greene converted with 2 foul shots. With Pekovic on the bench with four fouls, Cedomir Vitkovac stepped up and Kecman scored on a streaking lay-up for a 52-41 deficit, which resulted in a timeout by Bamberg boss Dirk Bauermann. Suput hit a jumper and after Slavko Vranes missed an open dunk, Ohlbrecht raced back down to throw down a monster slam for a 57-43 advantage. Coach Vujosevic knew he had to bring back in Pekovic, who hit two foul shots and then Kecman knocked down a three-pointer just before the third-quarter buzzer to trim the deficit to 57-48 going into the fourth.
 Kecman trimmed the game to 57-51 as he knocked down a three-pointer off the glass with the shot clock winding down. Okulaja answered with a jumper late in the shot clock. Neither team was able to score until Fenn knocked down an important three-pointer for a 62-51 cushion with five minutes left. Fenn drained another three-ball for a 14-point cushion with less than four minutes left. Pekovic scored two baskets inside and Kecman's foul shot trimmed the gap to 67-56 but Hamann's three re-established a 70-56 lead. Pekovic scored inside, but Hamann came back with 2 foul shots for a 72-58 advantage with 1:30 left. Kecman and Vitkovac scored on tip-ins to trim the lead to 73-62. Suput hit two foul shots and Greene finished the game with a three-pointer.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
David Hein, Bamberg
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