The basketball players of FC Bayern Munich won Game 2 of the semi-finals at Rasta Vechta with an impressive score of 89-71. The defending champions now lead 2-0 in the best-of-five-series and can sweep the series on Saturday.
In front of 3,140 spectators in the boiling Rasta Dome, the champion shone after the break with a 20-0 run in which the hosts were not allowed to score points for almost seven minutes. The strong team defense forced a total of 24 turnovers and the offense also thrived. Only the rebound duel (28-34) went to Vechta.
Game 3 tips-off next Saturday (8.6.) at 20:30 in the Audi Dome.
Points per quarter Bayern - Vechta: 20-20, 24-18, 20-20, 25-13.
FCBB stats: Nihad Djedovic (13 points), Maodo Lo (11, 3 Steals), Petteri Koponen (10), Devin Booker (8, 7 Rebounds, 5 Assists), Vladimir Lucic (8, 5 Reb., 3 St.) Nemanja Dangubic (8), Leon Radosevic (8), Alex King (7), Danilo Barthel (7), Stefan Jovic (6, 6 Assists), Derrick Williams (3), Robin Amaize
Quotes:
FCBB head coach, Dejan Radonjic: "Congratulations to my players, to victory and to 40 good minutes. Our defense today was really excellent. But now it's 2-0. We have to be ready for the third game on Saturday."
Maodo Lo: "Playing in Vechta is really extraordinary, it is difficult to play against this mood. It's unbelievable with what energy this team plays, especially at home. It was a difficult game for us, but in the end we were able to get away somehow. It was a strong game from both teams. We knew it would be one of the hardest games of the season. But like Vechta, we're also trying to defend aggressively and can cause problems for our opponents. I think we did that successfully today."
Nihad Djedovic: "We knew it would be difficult. Vechta is a very good team and if you let them play, they can really play very good basketball. They only scored 71 points at home, so I can say that we controlled the game for 40 minutes. But we have to do better with the offensive rebounds because we allowed too many. All in all, every player showed a top performance today. But Vechta won't let up one percent, we have to play even better on Saturday."
1st quarter
FCBB coach Radonjic started with Stefan Jovic, Nihad Djedovic, Vladimir Lucic, Danilo Barthel and Devin Booker in Game 2. Booker scored the first points in the heated Rasta Dome by a tip-in in the first minute of play. The hosts countered the hot shooting from Bayern with their own successes from the three-point line and were able to stay neck-and-neck with the favorites. Josh Young equalized the game at the buzzer with a three from well beyond the arc - 20-20 after ten minutes.
2nd quarter
Right at the beginning of the second stage Nemanja Dangubic hit the first three for the Munich team, to which Hinrichs responded in turn to keep things tied. In the middle of the quarter Djedovic took over the scoring for the Bavarians and contributed seven points but the visitors were unable to take a big lead. The offensive responsibility of the FCBB record player was taken over by Maodo Lo who did a good job in getting to the rim and taking a small lead for Bayern. The last points of the champions were scored by Alex King but Vechta managed to yet again score at the buzzer to retain momentum at the break.
3rd quarter
The Bavarians responded to a good start of the home team after the break with a 9-0 run and were thus able to take a double-digit lead for the first time at 53-43. Driven by the loud crowd in the Rasta Dome the team of Pedro Calles fought their way back to two points back with a three from Robin Christen. Petteri Koponen finished the quarter with a three which was the prelude to a brilliant run from Bayern.
4th quarter
Dejan Radonjic's team stepped it up a few gears in the final quarter on defence and forced turnovers that led to scoring many easy points. Only after 5:40 minutes played in the last quarter did Vechta get their first points - and that from the free-throw line. With a 20-0 run the Bavarians set the course for victory and didn't let the hosts rebel and finally won 89-71 at Rasta Vechta.
Game 3: Saturday, June 8, 20:30 (Audi Dome)
Photo-Credit: Stickel
