After two away wins, the Bonn Baskets have improved in the Basketball Bundesliga in front of their home crowd. They won against Bamberg on Monday evening thanks to a strong final quarter with 76:74 (36:36).
The Telekom Baskets Bonn At the end of the 15th match day, we welcomed the BBL’s strongest offensive team with an average of 90.1 points – the BMA365 Bamberg Baskets.
Bamberg takes the lead with an 8-0 run
The Rhinelanders had something to make up for in front of their own crowd, as they had suffered their heaviest home defeat against league leaders Bayern Munich three days before Christmas (55:83). However, in the Cologne Arena, where they set a new BBL record against the currently best German basketball team with 18,713 spectators.
The duel with Bamberg was with two competitors in the fight for a direct playoff ticket in view of the table. Jeff Garrett jr. in the opening quarter with two successful three-point throws and a lay-up for the home team’s first slightly higher lead, which Zachery Cooks extended to 17:11 (6th minute). But Bamberg hit back with an 8-0 run and went into the first break with a narrow lead (22:21).
Bonn’s coach Stankovic is annoyed by careless ball losses
In the second half, Bamberg remained without points for two minutes before Cobe Williams intercepted a pass from Bonn and Moritz Krimmer gave the pass for the successful “three” (25:25, 13th minute). But if the ball didn’t fall through the net, it was usually the Bonn team who used rebounds to gain possession of the ball. They took advantage of this in the 15th minute to take a 31:25 lead.
The fact that it wasn’t enough to take a half-time lead, but only 36:36, was due not least to too many turnovers and missed throws. Both teams shared the mistakes and poor scoring, so the points scored in the second quarter remained meagre. That wasn’t what annoyed Bonn’s head coach Marko Stankovic during the break, as his team is already one of the three worst in the BBL in terms of scoring. He complained about the careless turnovers with which his players deprived themselves of shooting opportunities.
Bamberg’s dry spell in the final quarter
Things didn’t get any better at first, which Stankovic told his team very clearly during a timeout when the score was 40:48 (25th minute). It didn’t help. Bamberg sniffed at a double-digit lead several times in the third quarter. When it looked like there was only a narrow deficit before the last break after two free throws by Tylan Birts, Demarcus Demonia increased the guests’ lead to at least 59:55 with a “three-pointer” just in time for the end of the quarter.
At the beginning of the final quarter, as in the second half, the guests suffered a long dry spell. It took them more than two and a half minutes for their first points – during that time Garrett had put Bonn back in the lead with 60:59. Now Stankovic saw his team consistently score: Grayson Murphy hit Birt’s two “threes” in a row, and Garrett increased the lead to 68:64 (35th minute).
Comithier hits nerve-racking from the free throw line
Alijah Comithier added four points to make it 72:66 (36th) and became Bonn’s best scorer, but ultimately it was the guests’ dominance in rebounds and missed three-pointers in the last ten minutes that brought victory within reach for the home team. In the final minute, Bonn took a six-point lead (74:68) after a free throw from Comithier.
24 seconds were enough for the guests to score two points. Now Bonn had the ball 30 seconds before the end and knew that it wouldn’t be enough to just play out the attack – they had to score. And Comithier did that twice with strong nerves after a foul from the free throw line – 76:72. He was the best scorer of the game with 22 points.
Krimmer misses Bamberg’s chance to win in the final second
It was Bamberg’s turn again and had 19 seconds to successfully complete two attacks. Ibi Watson took responsibility, moved to the basket and scored to make it 74:76. Then things got crazy: Bamberg fouled Michael Kessens, who missed both free throws for Bonn, but got the rebound, only to give the ball straight back to the guests with a bad pass. Bamberg had five seconds left to win the game with a three-pointer. Krimmer took the measure, but didn’t hit the target. Bonn narrowly won and moved up to fifth place in the table.
The Bonn team have a little more to make up for next Sunday when they face Munich again (6 p.m.). It will be difficult to defeat Bayern, who are unbeaten at home, in their own stadium, but the Baskets certainly don’t want to go down with a difference of 28 points again.
Our sources:
- Game between Baskets Bonn and Bamberg Baskets on January 5th, 2026
- Streaming service Dyn
Broadcast: WDR.de“Bonn wins an exciting game against Bamberg”, 01/05/20267:44 p.m
