Strong debut by Adams goes unrewarded

BBC Coburg lost narrowly to Basketball Lions Erfurt by 76:77 (39:35) on Sunday. Even a strong performance from new signing Chase Adams was not able to prevent his team’s defeat in front of a crowd of 820 in the HUK-Coburg Arena.

The American point guard Chase Adams gave a fine display of his experience and oversight on his debut for BBC Coburg, ending up with 20 points, ten assists and five rebounds.

The home side got off to a lightning start and was 19:6 ahead after ten minutes thanks to in some cases spectacular buckets by Kevin Franceschi, Christopher Wolf and Max von der Wippel. Everything was going according to plan with the score at 25:9, but then a 3:14 run put the visitors from Erfurt back in the game. Things got really uncomfortable for the home side shortly after the break. The Lions’ guard Maximilian Kuhle almost single-handedly tied the scores at 43:43 midway through the third period.

Not much clicked for BBC Coburg in offense or defense from then on. First, the home side repeatedly gave the Lions’ stalwart Robert Franklin second chances to shoot and, second, the BBC again chalked up a weak three-point field goal percentage. Kuhle’s bucket from downtown to make it 65:73 with three minutes remaining sealed the encounter, even though Adams tried all he could right to the end.