The Bayern basketball team continues to maintain close contact with the top of the BBL standings as Andrea Trinchieri's team won the road game at the Baltic Sea against newcomer Rostock 78-65. This was the eleventh victory in 13 games. After a superior first half with nine three-pointers and quite a few forced turnovers the game was decided shortly after the restart (61-33/24th).

In front of a sellout crowd of 4,550 fans the hosts were able to make things much closer in the final quarter against an overly carefree FCBB.  The top Munich scorers were Winston (14) and Gillespie and Bonga (9 each).

In addition to the injured Obst and Lucic, center Hunter took rested in view of the upcoming schedule. In 48 hours, Bayern will play a sold-out EuroLeague game at the Audi Dome against Panathinaikos Athens (Thurs., 20:30.).

SCHEDULE

Score per quarter Bayern - Rostock: 31-15, 22-15, 18-15, 7-20

Stats: Two-point shooting: 27 % (Rostock) // 49 % (FCBB); Three-point shooting: 36 % // 36 %; Free-throw shooting: 81 % // 94 %; Rebounds: 38 // 38; Assists: 12 // 16; Turnovers: 20 // 16

Quotes:

Andrea Trinchieri: "First of all I want to congratulate Coach Held for doing a good job, they play with ideas that differ from others; I always appreciate that. Secondly, I want to thank Rostock for the nice atmosphere, the fans were very fair. So it was a good evening of basketball, we had 30 excellent minutes in the process. Then in the last quarter we were totally disconnected. With all the travel and games, I don't like it, but I can understand it. Rostock has averaged almost 100 points at home so far, but we played a very solid defense and deserved to win."

Niklas Wimberg: "In the first half, we benefited from not allowing many open shots and Rostock didn't hit their open ones. In the second half, they also hit a few tough ones. That took us out of our rhythm a bit and I think that was also the decisive point why we didn't finish the game so confidently."

Game recap:

The FCBB started with Cassius Winston, Nick Weiler-Babb, Paul Zipser, Isaac Bonga and Freddie Gillespie in this first ever game for Munich game in the Stadthalle Rostock. With five quick Babb points, things also got off to a good start for Bayern, It was a very dynamic opening phase and after five minutes they held a small lead at 12-10. The Rostock Seawolves took the first timeout of the evening after falling behind by eight (18-10/8th). An 11-0 run secured the guests a large lead and the score was 31-15 after the first ten minutes.

At the beginning of the second quarter, the Bayern defense prevented the Rostock team from scoring for more than three minutes. In the 14th minute of the game Coach Trinchieri was nevertheless forced to take the first FCBB timeout and called for more attention to detail (36-20). A strong performance from beyond the three-point line (7/10) increased the Munich lead to 44-22 (17th). Bayern headed to the locker room with a 23-point lead (53:30). In total, ten of the eleven Bayern basketball players had scored. 

Ten FCBB players score before the break

Cassius Winston opened the second half with a basket but this third quarter was characterized by turnovers and free throws on both sides. However, due to the continued professional Munich performance, the lead of the guests increased to 29 (67-38/28th) and the Rostock team was held to only 15 points in the quarter. With a score of 71-45 the fourth quarter was about to begin.

The Seawolves got back into the game at the start of the final quarter with five early points but Gillespie completed a fastbreak after a nice Wimberg pass to break a potential run by the hosts. Nevertheless, Coach Trinchieri took a timeout after another Theis three-pointer that made it 76-55 (34th). After that, the scoring on both sides dropped off a cliff and the flow of the game became a trickle (78-55/38th). With only 1:47 left on the clock, the hosts managed to push the difference below 20 points. The league newcomer did not give up until the end, but the strong first half of the Munich team was simply too much. Bayern put away the win with a final score of 78-65.