Bavaria finishes the Cup preliminary round with a second win

The FC Bayern Munich basketball team finished the first round in the BBL Cup with their second victory in three games: 24 hours after their win over the MBC, Andrea Trinchieri's team won 80-63 in Weissenfels against the Merlins from Crailsheim. With this victory, the FCBB has a chance to participate in the Top Four in the Audi Dome. The Munich team led the entire game against the Swabians, who came to within ten points in the final quarter. Trinchieri relied on the identical squad from the previous day, thus saving the strength of his team, which has played three games in four days. Paul Zipser was the top scorer with 16 points ahead of Diego Flaccadori (15).

The FCBB will only be able to regenerate for a short time after their nightly return, as they will have to play Real Madrid in the EuroLeague on Thursday (21:00./MagentaSport).

Points per quarter Bayern -Crailsheim: 21-16, 23-12, 20-17, 19-15.

Stats - two-point shooting: 52% (FCBB) // 48% (Crailsheim); three-point shooting: 32% // 17%; free-throw shooting: 81% // 72%; rebounds: 35 // 38; assists: 18 // 18; turnovers: 15 // 18.

Quotes:
Andrea Trinchieri: "It was very complicated to find a way to manage games on Friday, Sunday and now Monday, three games in such a short time with a different squad. But in the end we did a good job and that was the goal: come here, do the job and go home again."

Paul Zipser: "Like yesterday, we started the game with a lot of energy, we played together as a team, which I am very proud of. Now on Thursday in Spain it will be very difficult, but we are going there to win the game".

Game Recap:
Bray, Weiler-Babb, Grant, Zipser and Thomas started the game for Bayern. Trinchieri wasn't likely satisfied with the start since it was very sloppy on offense. The defense did a good job though, and after three minutes the score was just 3-3. Things picked up slowly but baskets were difficult to drop for each team. Jalen Reynolds enlivened the game with his specialty: offensive rebounding and put-backs (15.11/9.). Due to a lack of good shots the Hakro Merlins went on a 5-0 run until Nick Weiler-Babb hit a shot from half-court at the buzzer for a 21-16 lead.

The Crailsheim defense stiffend and Bayern struggled to control the ball on offense. Bray's second triple came at the right time (26-18/14.) howver, and the defense of the EuroLeague-leader showed its strength to take the first double-digit lead of the game (34:24/17.) Munich's defense was now in full rythym and provoked multiple turnovers and after 20 minutes, the FCBB took a commanding 44-28 lead.

Zipser continued to show off his offensive skills and Robin Amaize scored to take a 20-point lead (50-30/23.). The Swabians, however, did not give up but rather threw themselves hard at each Bayern attack. Amaize stopped the 9-1 run of the Crailsheimers with another controlled layup (58-41/29.). Bayern struggled a bit and during the last six minutes of the third quarter the team scored only six points - 61-48.

Trinchieri took a time-out after just under two minutes of the final quarter, as he did not like what was happening on the court and especially on offense. Malcolm Thomas ended the lull immediately after the break (63-50/33.) but the Munich team struggled to score. Youngster Matej Rudan delighted his coach again as his three-pointer put the game away (74-60/38)

TO THE SCHEDULE

Photo Credit: Embroidery, Cover