Decimated Coburg team shows character at league leader

The Coburg basketball players concede an 109:87 defeat to the league leaders in Koblenz in the ProB Süd. They slip back to fourth place.

BBC Coburg suffered the expected defeat in the 2nd Basketball Bundesliga ProB Süd in Koblenz. Milos Petkovic's team lost by a clear 109:87 and slipped back in the standings from third to fourth place behind the Frankfurt Skyliners Juniors, who now have the same points.

Against the strong Koblenz Baskets on Sunday evening, the Coburger had no chance, the promotion aspirants from the Rhine-Moselle city were also too big for the Upper Franconians in the second leg. The Coburg team, now in fourth place, also played the league leaders with a small eight-man rotation due to injuries.

Nico Höllerl was in great form, scoring 18 points with almost perfect shooting. After a long injury to his wrist, the set-up man Joaquin Carrasco is getting back into the swing of things, with seven assists and 18 points. In the end, nine Coburg players came together for the away trip to the Rhine-Moselle city. Due to injuries, the key players Blunt, Sonnefeld, Suput and Wobst were missing. It was a different story for the hosts, Pat Elzie's team played without any absentees in the packed CGM Arena.

The Baskets punished the first Coburg ball loss with a dunk by Marvin Heckel. Only a few seconds later, he followed it up with a three-pointer. When Dominique Johnson scored to make it 12:3 for Koblenz, BBC coach Milos Petkovic pulled the ripcord for the first time and took a time-out. However, the Coburg offence continued to struggle with the effective defence of Koblenz. The Upper Franconians were dependent on goals from distance. Consequently, the first twelve points all came from three-pointers, with Höllerl scoring twice, Bulic and Kazakevicius.

But because the hosts were also sinking their triples, they were already on their way in the first half. With an alley-oop by Butler on a pass from Alani Moore, the Koblenzers extended their lead to eleven points. At the end of the opening quarter, it was already 30:16, but with high scoring rates and excellent ball movement, the Koblenzers nipped any Coburg rebellion in the bud. With their heads bowed, the Coburg team went into halftime with a 62:39 lead.

With the comfortable lead behind them, the match was all the easier for Koblenz. The hosts reacted calmly to some good scenes from the BBC. The severely depleted Coburg team did not lack will, but against the wide-ranging and brilliant Koblenz Baskets they lacked resources.

Koblenz took an unassailable 25-point lead from the third quarter. A good Coburg three-point quota of 36 percent paled in the face of 56 percent on the part of the home side. The Coburg basketball players finally left Koblenz with an 109:87 defeat.

After the White Wings Hanau filed for bankruptcy last week, it is still unclear whether the game against the BBC will take place next weekend.