Blunt three-pointer decides overtime thriller

After an overtime thriller, BBC Coburg won 91:89 against BG Hessing Leitershofen late Sunday afternoon in the BARMER 2nd Basketball Bundesliga ProB. The fans in the HUK-COBURG Arena witnessed a thrilling duel between the Veststädter and the Swabians, which Tyreese Blunt decided for Coburg's basketball players with a three-pointer from ten meters.

A constant up and down with positive and negative runs on both sides ended with a happy ending for BBC Coburg. After Coburg's basketballers earned overtime with an incredible final spurt shortly before the end of regulation time, Tyreese Blunt crowned his already strong performance this season with a goal to happiness. And to the fourth straight win for Jessie Miller's team. "With 27 turnovers, it's going to be tight at the end, if you even have a chance. There were a lot of waves today and the game was dominated by which team lost how many balls in which phase. We still have to work on our consistency. But at the end of the day, it was a win for us. It doesn't always have to be pretty," said the BBC coach directly after the match.

It was not beautiful from the point of view of the two coaches, but it was gripping and rousing for the spectators. Already in the first quarter the back and forth between the two opponents was apparent. The home side got off to a dream start and forced guest coach Emanuel Richter to call a timeout after just over a minute as Coburg quickly took a 7-0 lead. Initially, the momentum was still on the side of the home side. Leon Bulic converted a basket on a pass from Carrasco to make it 13:3, but from then on the Hessing Kangaroos scurried back into the game. The first quarter ended at 18:18 after a run by the guests.

In the second period, the BBC managed to bring calm back into the game and temporarily stop losing the ball. Captain Sven Lorber followed up a three-pointer with two basket shots in a row, putting the Vestädter in front 33:25. At halftime, Coburg led 38:32.

At first, the home side came out of the dressing room still solid. Carrasco scored a lay-up and Coburg led by ten points. Then, however, a strong phase of the Kangaroos emerged. The BBC lost a lot of balls in the build-up to the game. The biting guests forced the home team to make mistakes and increasingly scored at the offensive end. At 56:60 from Coburg's point of view, the game went into the fourth quarter.

Here, too, the guests initially kept the upper hand. After five points in a row by Leitershofen's Scekic, the Kangaroos took a 68:61 lead. When BBC was trailing 79-74 with just under half a minute left in regulation, Sven Lorber made a three-pointer and Joaquin Carrasco made an immediate steal followed by a layup to make it a crazy equalizer. The arena was upside down and it went into overtime.

Of course, the overtime was also characterized by runs on both sides. Coburg led 88-84 after a converted free throw by Bulic, before the visitors took the reins and led 89-88 until 29 seconds left on the clock. In the final attack, Tyreese Blunt took heart and threw the ball from the parking lot into the Kangaroos' net. One second of remaining time was too little for a response from the Leitershofeners, who came away empty-handed in Upper Franconia after a spirited performance.