Chemnitz – The Niners Chemnitz started the group phase of the Fiba Europe Cup with a defeat. Coach Rodrigo Pastore’s team lost the opening game against Bundesliga opponents Brose Baskets Bamberg 85-89 (49-41) at the Chemnitz Exhibition Center on Thursday evening. The best shooters in Saxony were Arnas Velicka with 20 points and Nelson Weidemann with 14 points.
The Niners started furiously, were already 13:2 ahead after seven minutes of play, the Saxons ended the first quarter with a safe 29:14 lead. Then the guests turned it up a bit and were able to cut back more and more, in the meantime even down to three points (41:44). After half-time, the Saxons got off to a better start again, but Bamberg couldn’t be shaken off. On the contrary: the equalizer was achieved at 82:82 only 2:17 minutes before the end. Then Chemnitz lost three balls in a row in the final phase and thus gave up the win.
In Group A, the Saxons still have to play against Hapoel Galil Elion (Israel) and Golden Eagle Ylli (Kosovo). The Niners narrowly missed qualifying for the Champions League in Skopje. In the qualifying final, Chemnitz lost 78:82 to Tofas Bursa’s Turkish team.
