BBC COBURG loses to Fraport Skyliners

The alarm bells are ringing at BBC COBURG after it lost on the road at Fraport Skyliners Juniors Frankfurt by 74:69 (41:36) – its fifth consecutive defeat. At the same time, the competition at the bottom end of the table in the BARMER ProB South 2nd German Basketball League is pulling off unexpected wins to add unwanted tension going into the playdowns.

Yet the team of Head Coach Ulf Schabacker got off to a promising start in the city by the River Main. In particular shooting guard Kevin Franceschi got into his stride and contributed seven points single-handedly to help his side move 7: 11 ahead. However, a run of 14 points without reply by the home side caused long faces among the numerous BBC fans who had made the journey and enabled the Skyliners to go 23:14 in front after 10 minutes.

The club from Upper Franconia then fought its way back with a 7:0 run of its own at the start of the second period and, also thanks to two buckets from downtown by point guard Chase Adams, kept itself in contention by half-time (41:36). That scoreline could have been even better if it had not been for the visitors’ weak 3-point field goal percentage: just eight out of 34 attempts from outside found their mark.

After the break, it first looked like Frankfurt’s young talents had as good as sealed victory, as center Armin Trtovac, whom the BBC never got a grip on, put his team 50:38 in front. However, Coburg equalized again after a further eight straight points by Adams (52:52 in the 28th minute).

The game panned out in a similar way in the final period. With two-and-a-half minutes remaining, Frankfurt led by six, but Chase Adams with a bucket from beyond the arc, then a steal and bounce pass to Max von der Wippel, who drained one of his two free throws and repeated that feat right away after snapping up an offensive rebound, kindled BBC COBURG’s hopes of taking away both points at the death (71:69 in the 40th minute). However, Trtovac snapped up the rebound on the very next attack and sealed the home win from the foul line.

The defeat complicates Coburg’s position going into the playdowns, which commence with an away game in Würzburg on March 9. Although the BBC finished the regular season in 9th, the gap between it and Rhöndorf and Cologne, both of whom won at the weekend, has been cut to four wins.