BBC Coburg: A will to win

Despite various injury woes and departures, BBC COBURG captured an impressive 86:73 (40:28) home win against Depant GIESSEN 46ers Rackelos to stay in contention for a playoff berth in the BARMER ProB South 2nd German Basketball League.

Led by an outstanding Max von der Wippel, the team of Head Coach Ulf Schabacker dominated the rebounding, a department that is so crucial to the outcome of every game, and also kept former international Johannes Lischka under control.

An end-to-end, evenly matched tussle ensued in the first period, but then Coburg’s defense got a better and better grip on the opposing side. The club from Upper Franconia allowed the Rackelos to score just nine points in the second quarter, which ended 40:28. Of special mention was the defensive performance of Steffen Walde and Matthias Fichtner, who repeatedly left their usual positions on the wings to deal with opponents of a far more hefty stature in the paint.

In particular Kevin Franceschi and Dino Dizdarevic were mainstays in the BBC’s offense and helped stretch the lead to 23 points after the break (70:47 after 30 minutes). The home side was no longer able to reduce the deficit significantly and could only put a better complexion on the result in the meaningless final spell – also thanks to the once more circumspect direction of point guard Chase Adams, who remained in control all the time and, together with Yasin Turan, punished Gießen’s zone defense with buckets from outside. BBC Coburg finally ran out winners by 86:73.