Pascal Roller missed a free-throw late in Game 5 of last year’s Beko BBL Play-off Finals that would have pulled his Deutsche Bank Skyliners level in the contest and Bamberg ended up scraping a two-point victory to capture the title.
The veteran point guard has shrugged off the disappointment and showed already this season that when the contest hangs in the balance, more times than not he’s going to deliver.
In their game against Braunchweig over the weekend, Skyliners grabbed an offensive rebound off a missed free-throw with just under a minute remaining and Roller then caught a pass and drilled a three-ball to not the game at 91-91 before DaShaun Wood scored the winning lay-up with a second to go.
The Frankfurt club added a free-throw for a 94-91 triumph.
Roller, who made three of four shots from long range and finished with 13 points, had received the award for being the most liked player in the Beko BBL before the game.
“I thought this was Pascal’s best game of the year,” winning coach Gordon Herbert said.
There was also a come-from-behind win for Telekom Baskets Bonn.
Bonn trailed 78-72 at home against Phoenix Hagen entering the final quarter but roared on by their 5,340-strong crowd, they fought back for a 103-102 victory.
Jacob Jaacks made one of two free-throws with six seconds left to put Bonn in front and they survived at the end when David Bell missed a potential game-winning three-pointer for Hagen.
Chris Ensminger, Bonn’s 37-year-old veteran center, made 14 of his 15 attempts at the free-throw line and finished with a game-high 28 points for Bonn.
The home side went to the line often, finishing 36 of 48 (75%).
League leaders Brose Baskets Bamberg scraped a 60-58 win over Artland Dragons with Brian Roberts’ jump shot two seconds from the end proving decisive.
In other games, ratiopharm Ulm thrashed Gottingen 95-73, Tubingen hit the road and hammered Oldenburg 87-68, Bremerhaven edged Trier 73-72, Ludwigsburg defeated Mitteldeutscher BC 73-65 and Alba Berlin beat Bayreuth 75-66.
FIBA
