It is noteworthy that the Falcons still had to do without their ailing previous top scorer Brandton Chatfield in the game against Koblenz. The 24-year-old American center came to Nuremberg before the season from the American college league from Iowa State University and has so far scored an average of 14.8 points and grabbed 6.9 rebounds in 16 games played with a rate of 64.8 percent from the field. However, Chatfield’s teammates jumped into the breach impressively against Koblenz, especially U19 runner-up and power forward Tom Stoiber, who had 30 points and ten rebounds on the scoreboard. The game was an absolute highlight for Stoiber; overall, the 19-year-old youngster has averaged 6.6 points and 3.9 rebounds in 20 games played.
The second best thrower of the season so far is shooting guard Vincent Friederici (24) with 13.4 points, 1.9 rebounds and 2.1 assists on average. The 29-year-old US point guard Evan Taylor, who returned to Noris in 2024 after a stint with the Traiskirchen Lions in Austria, is just behind with an average of 13.2 points and four rebounds on the scoreboard. The Falcons’ rebound statistics are led by US rookie and small forward Trevor Baskin, who also came to Nuremberg from the American college league from the University of Colorado, with an average of 7.2 rebounds. The 23-year-old also scored 12.2 points.
At the beginning of November, 23-year-old US point guard Carter Whitt, who came to Nuremberg from Belmont University, was re-signed. In his 14 games for the Falcons so far, he averaged 9.1 points, grabbed 3.6 rebounds and gave 4.0 assists. Whitt replaced Cameron Parker, who left Nuremberg after six seasons.
The 32-year-old veteran and power forward Julius Wolf continues to be one of the team’s mainstays with 9.1 points and 4.4 rebounds. Homegrown point guard Joscha Eckert (20, 1.4 points), the experienced center Lars Lagerpusch (27, 3.4 points/1.2 rebounds), who came from Paderborn before the season, the 25-year-old point guard Tim Köpple (4.6 points/1.9 rebounds/2.9 assists) and shooting guard Christian Feneberg (23, 4.2 points/1.5 rebounds) complete the Falcons’ squad.
The first leg in Nuremberg on November 23, 2025 was a dramatic thriller that ultimately ended with a 90:89 victory for the Falcons, but had an aftermath due to a referee’s decision immediately at the end of the game with a foul whistle being revoked. The protest lodged by the BBC because they wanted to see two free throws implemented for Bayreuth was ultimately rejected by the league due to the factual decision of the referees. BBC managing director Friedrich Hartung saw the events as evidence that the introduction of an instant replay system like in the BBL would also be appropriate in the second-class ProA. It remains to be seen whether the Frankenderby on Friday will be just as tight and will heat up tempers.
Coach’s voice BBC head coach Lukas Hofer
Nuremberg is currently on a real run, even though Chatfield is out. Small ball lineups work well for the Falcons, they have extremely good spacing, a lot of shooting power and are certainly very difficult to defend. The game is something special for us, a derby, and we want to take revenge for the controversial one-point defeat in the first leg in Nuremberg. We will try to convey to the players that the encounter is more than just a normal game and that this should be an extra motivation to win the derby.
From history
There have so far been a total of 18 competitive games, 17 league games and one cup game between Bayreuth and Nuremberg (each in the 2nd Bundesliga/Pro A), which, in addition to the current season, took place between 2000 and 2008 and in the last two seasons 2023/24 and 2024/25. The cup game was in the 2004/05 season, BBC club historian Dr. Peter-Michael Habermann out. The balance sheet is balanced: nine Bayreuth wins versus nine defeats. In the last three seasons in which both teams met (2007/08, 2023/24 and 2024/25), BBC Bayreuth won all of their games! In the narrow away win on March 3, 2024 with 97:95 (35:41), this only happened after an exciting game with two overtimes. The BBC lost the first leg of the current season on November 23, 2025 in Nuremberg with an extremely unfortunate and controversial score of 89:90 (22:32).
Info
The game between BBC Bayreuth and the Nuremberg Falcons will be broadcast live on sporteurope.tv.
