It is a small and colorful trophy, but the Bayern basketball players would have liked to receive it: The German Cup winner lost the final of the "MagentaSport Cup 2021" 70-68 to EuroLeague rival Red Star Belgrade in front of a crowd of around 1,100 on their home court at the Audi Dome. The magenta-colored cup was handed over by national wheelchair basketball player and Paralympics 2021 participant Katharina Lang of RBB Munich to Belgrade's game winner Luka Mitrovic.
In the second game within 24 hours, the FCBB's shooting (this time only 23 percent from three) what led to the loss. However, after leading 57-43 at the beginning of the last quarter, the success over the Serbian champions and ABA champions was still possible. Top Munich scorers were center Augustine Rubit (16/8 rebounds), Deshaun Thomas (12), Darrun Hilliard (12), Nick Weiler-Babb (8/5 assists) and Zan Mark Sisko (7).
In the semifinals, the hosts - still without Othello Hunter, Nihad Djedovic, Leon Radosevic, Corey Walden, Joshua Obiesie and Paul Zipser defeated the Italian champions Virtus Bologna 90-66. The top scorer in that game was national player Andreas Obst (18, 6/10 threes). Belgrade had previously beaten Athens 83-55, but unfortunately lost US forward Aaron White to a hand fracture.
The Bavarians clearly lose the game in the final quarter: 70-68
Next weekend, Bayern head coach Andrea Trinchieri's team will take part in a tournament in Bayreuth before starting the BBL season at home against Ulm on September 26. This is followed by the Cup duel with Bamberg (Oct. 3) and the EuroLeague clash against FC Barcelona (Oct. 7) at the Audi Dome.
Against Belgrade with coach Dejan Radonjic and Maik Zirbes, made threes were too rare compared to the previous day (16/31 threes). Hilliard took the first lead at the line (10-8/7) and then scored from long distance to make it 17-9 (10). Obst with his first three-pointer, Rubit in the pain and a Vladimir Lucic bucket increased the lead to double figures for the first time (25-13/15). The 29-15 (17th) was the highest lead at this point in the contest.
After halftime, both teams, which had been convincing the day before, had a hard time in scoring and the game got a bit ugly. The score was 52-40 after three quarters and Hilliard's buzzer beater made it 57-43.
The fighting Serbs equalized with three threes just three minutes before the end to tie the game at 62-62 and took a lead to 68-64 (63 seconds left) .The EuroLeague atmosphere was unmistakeable in this close-fought battle. Hilliard brought Bayern back to within two at 68-66 and Rubit equalized with three seconds to play but captain Mitrovic converted a last-second basket for a well-deserved victory.
Panathinaikos in third place
Third place went to Panathinaikos Athens after an extremely competitive duel with Italian champions Virtus Bologna. The Greeks won 112-111 (43:42, 90:90) after two overtimes and had the outstanding scorer in national player Ioannis Papapetrou (41 points, 8/13 threes). Top scorer for their opponent, who lost early coach Sergio Scariolo with two technicals, was Abudu Abass (21).
Photos: Stickel
