Basketball: Coburg's final spurt brings next home win

Thanks to a strong final quarter, BBC Coburg defeated Ahorn Camp BIS Baskets Speyer by 88:80 in front of its home crowd. After a rather tough 30 minutes, the club from Coburg shifted up a gear in the final period and so decided the game in its favor. The BBC's top scorer was again youngster Adrian Petkovic with 24 points. Gabriel Kuku added 19, Kolten Mortensen 14 and Danas Kazakevicius 12 points.

Head Coach Patrick Seidel summed up the important home win: "We definitely got our game plan right in defense. But what hurt us in the first half was Speyer's offensive rebounding. We conceded too many second chances to shoot, which ruined our good defense a little. In the second half, I liked the fact that we moved the ball quicker in offense and played more transition. We definitely deserved to win the game, but we definitely need to step up our emotionality and just be a bit more aggressive overall."

Unlike in the first leg, the BBC got off to a better start. Nevertheless, Coburg was not able to get into an attacking rhythm throughout the first half. Although the club from Westphalia took an 8-point lead midway through the second quarter, it was immediately countered by the club from the Palatinate.

The picture was the same in the third period. Neither team really managed to achieve a bigger lead and so the final quarter was evenly poised. However, the BBC got into the game much better there and was able to get a double-digit gap for the first time with well-taken shots in offense. Adrian Petkovic in particular turned on the heat in this spell. Coburg's point guard scored 14 of his 24 points in the final 10 minutes and, on top of that, he repeatedly provided his big man Danas Kazakevicius with impressive support at the basket. Speyer was able to close the gap to 6 points but was no longer able to deny Coburg victory.

BBC Coburg continues its campaign next Sunday, February 11, with an away game at CATL Basketball Löwen in Erfurt, where it will be a Franconian-Thuringian derby.