BBC Coburg captures enormously important victory in the relegation battle

BBC COBURG has captured an enormously important win on the road in its first game of the playdowns in the BARMER ProB South 2nd German Basketball League. Thanks to a mature team performance, the BBC inflicted the first home defeat on TG s.Oliver Würzburg by 76:86 (34:46) and so remains on course to avoid relegation before the final games.

After the injury worries of the past week, Head Coach Ulf Schabacker was able to call on all his players, with the exception of Daniel Krause and Matthias Fichtner, who were both missing through injury. The BBC began the away game in Würzburg just under 100 km from home with point guard Chase Adams, the wings Kevin Franceschi and Dino Dizdarevic, power forward Christopher Wolf and center Max von der Wippel.

The visitors got off to a good start, producing a small run of eight points without reply initiated by Kevin Franceschi, who was wide alert from the outset, before Michael Javernik brought it to an end with a bucket from beyond the arc. It was again Franceschi who struck back from downtown right away. Coburg dominated the course of play, in particular under the opposing side’s board, and so repeatedly snapped up a second chance to shoot. Christopher Wolf drained a buzzer-beating three to make it 24:17 at the end of the first period.

In the second quarter, the former Treuchtlingen player Tim Eisenberger stepped up to the plate for the home side and scored eight, or almost half of Würzburg’s 17 points, in the period. However, BBC COBURG was in no mood to relinquish the lead and avoided a collapse thanks to top scorer Franceschi, who finished with a haul of 26 points, and Wolf, who chalked up a strong double-double (15 points and 11 rebounds) and repeatedly had to help out in the center position. The BBC took a 12-point cushion in with it at half-time (34:46).

After the break, it was in particular Steffen Walde who made an important mark with his energetic drives to the basket and ensured that the visitors were able to go into the final and deciding period with a double-digit lead (62:52 after 30 minutes).

The final quarter began with a three-pointer by Eisenberger and a bucket from close to the basket by Jonas Weitzel: 64:57 – meaning the Upper Franconian club’s lead had dwindled to just 7 points and causing nervous murmuring among the many Coburg fans who had made the journey. But then Chase Adams calmed any jitters down: The American player displayed all his class, scored from even the most difficult positions with unerring accuracy, and sparked a crucial 9:2 run for his side. Yet as is expected from youngsters, tenacious Würzburg refused to give up, and instead stopped the clock with fouls to send the visitors to the foul line. However, Adams and his teammates did not show any weakness and so Würzburg went on to win 76:86 and take away two hugely important points.

Assistant Coach Johannes Wunder expressed his relief afterwards: “First of all, I’m very proud of our players, who summoned up everything they had today to leave the court as winners. Despite adverse circumstances in the past week, we managed to retain our focus over the whole 40 minutes. At the start of the week, the team thought a lot about what was important to capture both points. They stuck to and fulfilled all the plans we made 100%. We managed to set a goal and put the good of the team before players’ individual ego. I’m especially happy that our string of losses has now been broken and we can travel to Cologne brimming with confidence.”