BBC Coburg: Commanding victory in Frankfurt

BBC Coburg returned from the short break in the BARMER ProB South 2nd German Basketball League with a commanding 98:86 (51:35) win on the road at FRAPORT SKYLINERS Juniors in Frankfurt to keep in close contention for a playoff spot after the first half of the season.

Coburg’s Head Coach Ulf Schabacker was able to line up with two new signings, forward Noah Kamdem and center Tidjan Keita. Whereas Kamdem, who hails from Nuremberg, trained with the team for the first time on Thursday, Keita only met his new teammates at the final training on Friday before the journey to Hesse. It was also Kamdem who put the BBC ahead for the first time, when he made it 12:11 in the 6th minute after a pass from Princeton Onwas. Keita also got on the score sheet three minutes later when he snapped up an offensive rebound and tied the scores at 17:17. The Frenchman was also involved in the final highlight of the period when he stole possession at the back and set up Onwas for a slam-dunk, enabling Coburg to take the quarter by 19:17.

The BBC was then able to extend its advantage slowly in the second period: A bucket from downtown by Constantin Ebert, followed shortly afterwards by two points from the strong Sven Lorber, put Coburg 31:22 in front in the 14th minute. The lead remained in the double digits, as a three by Timo Dippold stretched it to 44:33 and heralded in a 10:2 run that allowed Coburg to move 51:35 ahead at the break.

The visitors also got off to a strong start in the second half: The in-form Dippold drained two more buckets from beyond the arc, while captain Christopher Wolf scored despite being fouled and also added the bonus free throw (60:37 in the 22nd minute). However, the home side from Basketball City Mainhattan, the training arena of Frankfurt’s first-division team, recovered to produce a run of ten points without reply and cut the deficit by the end of the quarter. Nevertheless, the BBC still went into the final period with a 75:63 advantage. “When Frankfurt switched to zone defense, we unfortunately slackened our grip a lot in defense,” were the words of admonition from Head Coach Schabacker. And so the encounter became really tight: Frankfurt had slashed the deficit to just 74:79 by midway through the quarter, when Wolf took aim from the wing. The ball hit the back of the hoop, dropped forward – and went through the net. That three to make it 82:74 forced the home side to call a timeout and was the sign for the BBC that nothing could rob it of victory on the day any more. Shortly afterwards, youngster Nico Wenzl drained a bucket from beyond the arc to make it 98:83 and so score his team’s final points in a deserved and commanding win on the road.

“We took Frankfurt’s sharpshooters out of the game well, rebounded well and didn’t allow any one-one-one situations,” said a highly satisfied Schabacker about his team’s display. The new signings also turned in an impressive performance in the view of the BBC’s Head Coach: “I’m very pleased with Tidjan. His size means he gives our game another dimension. Noah also got off to a very strong start and he injects aggression. He’s loud and lets himself go – that does a lot for our communication.”

The two clubs come up against each other again this weekend: The BBC welcomes Frankfurt to the Lauterer Höhe on Sunday to kick off its campaign in the second half of the season (tip-off: 4 p.m.).