Olympia Eissportzentrum, November 20 - Jonathan Wallace scored 19 points as FC Bayern Basketball beat the Crailsheim Merlins 91-65.

In the first quarter Bayern's defense was strong enough to hold the Merlins to 15 points. Bayern looked as though they would breeze on to another win but it did not come without a few bumps in the road. In the beginning of the second quarter center Darius Hall was out with three fouls. "I guess I was too aggressive," said Hall, who did not see many more minutes until the third quarter and finished with 7 points and 3 rebounds. By halftime Bayern was up 45-33 with no signs of slowing down.

At the beginning of the second half the Merlins looked as though they were going to make a comeback by going on a 6-0 run but it did not last very long. Wallace began shifting the momentum by hitting a 3-pointer, followed by Robert Garrett with another shot beyond the arc. Bayern began sinking treys like they were easy lay-ups, hitting 13 total in all, shooting a staggering 54% on the night.

Garrett hit three in total and Bastian Doreth added four - both finished with 14 points. By the end of the third quarter Bayern was leading 74-59.

Aleksandar Nadjfeji scored 15 points with 9 rebounds but also had three fouls and joined Hall on the bench for most of the fourth quarter.  But it was not Bayern who were having foul trouble. Crailsheim committed 30 fouls total while Bayern only committed 17. With 5:33 left in the fourth quarter Bayern went on an 8-0 run which sealed the Merlins fate. Alexander Blessig hit a 3-pointer in the final seconds hitting the nail in the coffin for the visitors.

Bayern was very focused on winning this game as Coach Dirk Bauermann said, "One game at a time, you never look past your next opponent."  The team improves to 8-1 on the season and due to a loss by Würzburg this weekend, Bayern sit on top of the table.

Bayern travel to Karlsruhe and Saar-Pfalz over the next two weekends and return home on December 11th to take on GiroLive-Ballers Osnabrück who sit only one point behind. An additional 550 seats will be on sale starting Monday, November 22nd.