BBC Coburg loses narrowly to Erfurt

BBC COBURG seems to be luckless against Basketball Lions Erfurt: As in the game between the two earlier in the season, the BBC ended up losing by just one point – 83:82 (40:39) – on the road in Thuringia on Sunday. It has thus slipped to sixth in the BARMER ProB South 2nd German Basketball League, but is still in a playoff spot.

Fired on by 1,600 spectators in the sold-out Riethsporthalle in Erfurt, the home side immediately seized control of the game and took an early 20:10 lead thanks to the first of a total of five buckets from outside by Maximilian Kuhle. The visitors, who were without Daniel Krause, produced a run of ten points without reply, crowned by a three by Chase Adams, to equalize at the start of the second period (23:23 in the 13th minute).

Neither team was then able to open up a decisive gap. On his return to the team, captain Yasin Turan made a lay-up despite being fouled and the subsequent bonus free throw to ensure that the club from Upper Franconia only trailed narrowly at half-time (40:39).

Coburg proved to be the more alert team to begin with after the break. Dino Dizdarevic opened up a five-point gap with a bucket from beyond the arc and briefly silenced the Lions’ fans, after which Adams even stretched the lead to seven points from the foul line (47:54 in the 27th minute). Yet it was once again Maximilian Kuhle who put his side back in contention with three buckets from outside, as the quarter ended with the scores tied at 59:59.

In the fourth period, it was initially the players of Lion’s Head Coach Florian Gut who were able to open up a slight gap through their 2.11-meter giant Andreas Kassioumis (70:65 in the 36th minute). Chase Adams heralded in a highly exciting final spell with a three, after which Matthias Fichtner followed suit and cut the deficit to 83:80 with 18 seconds left on the clock. Erfurt had possession and victory really should have been a formality – yet Adams stole the ball again and gave Christopher Wolf the chance to equalize from downtown. However, he missed and Adams was only able to cut the deficit to 83:82 from the foul line with his 23rd and 24th point after snapping up the offensive rebound. By the way, that was a further parallel with the previous game: The BBC’s playmaker added the final points for Coburg in its unfortunate 76:77 loss.

The biggest difference between the two equally matched teams can be seen from the rebounding statistics: Whereas the home side snapped up 49 rebounds – and U.S. stalwart Robert Franklin alone 19 of them –, Ulf Schabacker’s players managed just 28 rebounds. In addition, Coburg’s defense never got a handle on Kuhle or David Taylor. The son of the former BBC Head Coach Derrick was his side’s top scorer with 32 points.

Coburg is still in a playoff berth despite the defeat, but the candidates have bunched even closer together after the weekend. The home game against the young talents from the top team FC Bayern Munich in the HUK-COBURG arena this Saturday (tip-off: 7 p.m.) is thus all the more important.