The Bayern basketball team celebrated their second win outside of the Audi Dome and their first victory this year outside Germany on the 26th gameday of the Euroleague. With a final score of 77-68 the German champions beat a highly motivated host in front of 4,700 spectators after 40 strongly contested minutes. With their eighth win of the season, the Munich team, which has been weakened by injuries will swap places with the Russians, who are now in 18th-place with their new coach Xavi Pascual. Greg Monroe impressed with 26 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
Sunday's top game against Oldenburg in the Bundesliga with Hobbs and Amaize
Next Sunday (1.3) Bayern has to pass an important stress test in the fight for a top seed after the regular season in the Bundesliga. Cup finalist Oldenburg around Braydon Hobbs and Robin Amaize will compete in the Audi Dome starting at 18:00. On Wednesday (4.3), the BBL league leader will then host the Spanish representative Vítoria-Gasteiz in the EuroLeague - tip-off at 20:30,
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Zenit St. Petersburg vs. FC Bayern Basketball 68-77
FCBB
Greg Monroe (26 Points, 8 Rebounds, 5 Assists), Paul Zipser (13), Vladimir Lucic (10), Danilo Barthel (9, 6 Rebounds), Mathias Lessort (7), TJ Bray (5), Maodo Lo (4, 8 Assists), Josh Huestis (2) und Diego Flaccadori.
Top scorer St. Petersburg
Austin Hollins (18 Points), Gustavo Ayon (17)
Referee
Sasa Pukl, Petri Mantyla, Rain Peerandi
Attendance
4,679
Points per quarter Bayern - Zenit: 19-20, 26-21, 20-18, 17-14.
Facts & Figures: Two-point shooting: 64 % (FCBB) // 62 % (St. Petersburg); Three-point shooting 33 % // 17 %; free-throw: 82 % // 88 %; rebounds: 29 // 26; assists: 21 // 19; turnovers: 12 // 8 - injured: Nihad Djedovic (ankle) and Petteri Koponen (thigh).
Quotes:
FCBB head coach, Oliver Kostic: "I would like to congratulate my players for their great effort today. It was a team performance, both on defense and offense. This victory is very important for our self-confidence. And a proof for the players that the work is worthwhile and that we will continue to develop towards other highlights at the end of the season."
Greg Monroe: "We are happy about this victory. We wanted to play with a lot of energy and aggressiveness, and we did. Especially on defense, we did a good job."
Danilo Barthel: "We finally stayed mentally strong today, although the pressure was great and they played very physically. We played our defense, even when they had two or three good possessions in a row at the end. Greg did a fantastic job. We didn't lose our focus and kept using it well in the zone. But we're not just competing on the road just to play basketball, we're competing to win games."
1st quarter
The FCBB started with Maodo Lo, Paul Zipser, Vladimir Lucic, Danilo Barthel and Greg Monroe in the duel of standings neighbours. The game started with balanced scoring, neither team could break away in the early minutes. Offensively, Center Monroe took over for the guests and contributed seven points in the first six minutes already. In the following minutes the hosts broke away for the first time but the Bayern finished the first quarter positively with a 6-0 run and were down 20-19 after the first ten minutes.
2nd quarter
Zipser continued the run and immediately after the first quarter break he brought the first FCBB lead before St. Petersburg came on strong and defended their narrow lead. Once again it was Zipser who equalized the game at the free-throw line, before he took the lead again for the German champions with his first three-pointer. Josh Huestis and Barthel were important during this strong phase for the visitors. The American first blocked a triple attempt by the Russians and then Barthel defeated the buzzer from half court and took a 40-36 lead at the break. Monroe (13 points) and Zipser (11) led the charge in the first half for Bayern.
3rd quarter
Bayern kept their focus high and extended their lead to nine points with a 10-5 run at the beginning of the second half and held a solid lead at 51-40. Former Vechtan player, Austin Hollins caused the Bayern defense the biggest difficulties and brought his team closer again while his former teammate TJ Bray in turn responded for Bayern with a floater.The FCBB defended their six-point lead until the start of the final quarter.
4th quarter
The FCBB seemed nervous for a moment in the final section and St. Petersburg came close to within two points (64-62). Barthel responded for the Bavarians with two important baskets, but once again Hollins took over for the hosts and tied things up at 68. After Zipser lost the ball to Hollins, it looked as if the Munich team would again suffer a road loss. But the winger made a great effort after his mistake and blocked the shot in order to not give up the lead. The FCBB did not allow any further points in the following minutes and sprinted to their first road win in the top class with a 9-0 run.
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Photo credit: Lamzina/Zenit, Grachev/Euroleague
