Decimated BBC loses 86:78 at Dragons Rhöndorf

BBC Coburg has suffered a setback in the battle for a playoff berth in the BARMER ProB South 2nd German Basketball League, losing at Dragons Rhöndorf by 86:78 (45:51) on Sunday with a decimated squad, despite leading by 14 points after the first period.

In the opening spell, the players of Head Coach Ulf Schabacker managed to pick right up from their courageous performances of the past weeks. At the latest when Dino Dizdarevic, who produced another strong display, scored a lay-up and bonus free throw and Kevin Franceschi drained a bucket from beyond the arc to make it 16:30 after ten minutes, the spectators in the DragonDome believed that the visitors were on the road to victory. In the second quarter, Dizdarevic initially stretched the gap from downtown, but then the home side fought back with a run of nine points without reply. Nevertheless, the visitors – who had just eight players in their squad – took a six-point lead in with them at half-time.

After the break, the fact that Coburg had traveled to the Rhineland with a decimated squad and was missing Daniel Krause and Matthias Fichtner became more and more apparent. In addition, Chase Adams was still weak after his bout of flu. As a result, Dragons Rhöndorf were able to catch up point by point and gradually wrested the momentum. The Lithuanian player Zygimantas Riauka now proved to be the crucial factor: With his clever play, the center snapped up and finished a total of 14 rebounds. He also drained ten of his fourteen attempts from the floor and gave Rhöndorf the lead for the first time with two minutes left in the third period (64:63).

Yet the BBC refused to admit defeat and reduced the deficit to three points with 180 seconds left on the clock. However, Coburg was no longer able to counter a further 7:0 run by the home side and so finally succumbed by 86:78.