BBC Coburg: Comeback goes unrewarded

Despite a number of players missing out through injury, BBC Coburg narrowly missed out on a surprise win against RheinStars Cologne in front of more than 1,000 spectators in the HUK-COBURG arena.

The club from Cologne lost 74:81 to the current runners-up, RheinStars Köln, in a game that was played intensely by both sides. As in the previous week, the BBC's top scorer was forward Nico Höllerl with 20 points.

Although Coburg's chances of making the playoffs were diminished by the defeat, Head Coach Patrick Seidel had many words of praise for his players after the game: "Even though we lost, I'm very satisfied with our performance, especially with our shorter rotation. Everyone who was on the pitch showed intensity. If we played with that intensity for the whole season, we might be in a completely different position. Accordingly, I'm satisfied and proud of the team for taking another step forward in the game, that everyone had confidence in themselves and their teammates and defensively implemented the things we had planned. In the last two or three minutes, we just didn't reward ourselves with a few ball losses, which is of course a shame. Now we'll travel to Würzburg and try to get everything we can out of the last game of the main round. We're still in the game."

Due to the injuries to forward Sean Ludwig, captain Nico Wenzl and center Ben Diederichs, Coburg had five NBBL players in its squad. They were joined by point guard Adrian Petkovic, who was able to take part in the game due to a weekend off for the cooperation partner from Bamberg. With him in the starting five, the BBC was on a par with the second-placed team in the table from the outset and kept up with the visitors from the cathedral city in offense. After an evenly poised first period (20:22), the RheinStars were able to exploit their advantages below the basket in the second ten minutes and so score more easy points at the board. As a result, Cologne was able to open up a gap of up to twelve points at times, before Zach Hinton and Adrian Petkovic made it 36:44 for the club from Cologne on the half-time buzzer.The picture remained unchanged after the break: Cologne controlled the game without opening up a decisive gap, whereas the BBC did not really get within striking distance. After a three by Michels, who was unerringly accurate for the RheinStars on the evening, Coburg trailed by 13 points again shortly before the end of the third period (48:61). However, the team was jolted into action by a cry of motivation from Zach Hinton. The visitors, led by Nico Höllerl, Zach Hinton and youngster Julian Günther, embarked on a 12:0 run across the quarters. The newfound intensity in defense was also transferred to the offense. With energy, passion and belief in its own strength, Coburg also scored its points below the basket and actually took the lead again with six minutes remaining through center Abdul Karioui (66:65). Equipped with the coolness of a top team, Cologne took the ball back to where it had hurt the BBC most throughout the game after a timeout - namely to its big man Björn Rohwer at the board. In addition, Luca Michels drained two more threes in crunch time to ensure that the RheinStars were able to keep Coburg at the requisite distance and ultimately win the game.

BBC Coburg now needs a win in its last remaining game of the season at the up-and-coming Würzburg Baskets next Saturday (April 12) and at the same time some shooting help in the other venues to still have a chance of making the playoffs.