It is not enough for the Gießen 46ers to defend their title at the tournament in Hagen. The Bundesliga basketball team is doing well and is third.
“They play together and have fun. That is the most important thing,” said sports director Michael Koch, drawing a positive assessment of the Rewe Cup in Hagen. Against the Fraport Skyliners, who had already played several test matches against BBL competitors, the 46ers opened the semi-finals on Saturday at 88:90. “And we steered the Hagener Run in the third quarter on the right track,” said Koch happily about the 111: 92 in the game for third place on Sunday.
The winner of the tournament was Telekom Baskets Bonn with an 81-62 win over the Fraport Skyliners.
Semi-finals / Gießen 46ers – Frankfurt Skyliners 88:90 (46:52):The dress rehearsal for the BBL Cup, in which the two teams will meet again shortly, failed, at least on paper. There were playful shadows, but also bright spots that were revealed in the Krollmann Arena. “Given that Bjarne (Kraushaar) has just finished two training sessions, Jonathan (Starks) is still out and Andrew (Rowsey) has not yet been there, Liam (O ?? Reilly) in particular did very well today “, coach Ingo Freyer was full of praise in his hometown.
Directing the narrative on injured players when a match is lost is as old as the sport itself. Freyer even left the still absent Alen Pjanic unmentioned. With the narrow defeat in the Hessenderby on unfamiliar terrain, O ?? Reilly’s performance can hardly be hung high enough.
The newcomer wrote himself 21 points and eight assists in the statistics – even though, like large parts of the team, he had to struggle with foul problems throughout the game. After a stepback feint, O ?? Reilly let the first Gießener points fly in from the three-way distance (19:18, 7th). Before, it was the Frankfurters who sought their salvation on the perimeter, while the 46ers generated fast breaks from a bilious whole field defense.
Pure joy in playing characterized O ?? Reilly after the break, who pulled the trigger in the first attack from the half-left turn. On the other side, the brawny guard shied away from contact and forced a steal: at the end of a fast break, he put Scottie James Junior down, who dunked. With a threesome the O ?? Reilly brought back the lead shortly afterwards (55:52, 23rd), but had to be exchanged a little later with his fourth foul.
Frankfurt took off in the final quarter and was already leading on points from Jon Axel Gudmundsson 79:70. A three from O ?? Reilly and two more long-range hits by Isaac Hamilton brought Giessen back within striking distance (79:81, 38th). The Lahnstadt team gave up the chance of victory when Gudmundsson duped all five 46ers in the final minute and was allowed to walk freely through the middle to the basket. “We still have to work on acting more as a team and not so individually, otherwise I think it made a good impression today,” said Koch.
It was annoying that the team “only” met second division Phoenix Hagen in the game for third place on Sunday. The organizer of the cup failed because of Bonn.
Gießen 46ers: Hamilton (12), O??Reilly (21, 8 Assists), Kraushaar (4), Uhlemann, Richter (11), Bowman (10), Zylka (9), James JR (17, 10 Rebounds), Thomas (4, 7 Rebounds). – Frankfurt: Mobley (13), Begue (3), Schoormann (4), Vrcic (10), Püllen, Onyia, Murphy (11), Robertson (13), Gudmundsson (27), Völler, Meredith (9).
3rd place / Gießen 46ers – Phoenix Hagen 111: 92 (65:45):The physically inferior firebirds were almost 40 minutes behind a double-digit deficit. In addition to O ?? Reilly, who was again busy plowing on both sides of the field, Brandon Thomas stood out. The veteran marked 35 points.
In doing so, Freyer experimented with different defensive variants and let it rotate deeply within the scope of his possibilities. His ex-club knew how to use this, especially in the third quarter. A 20: 5 run brought the hosts back to 67:75 (26th min). In pick & roll defense, among other things, the 46ers often looked bad and allowed simple baskets. However, the Giessen victory was never really in danger, although Hagen coach Chris Harris also showed a willingness to experiment in the end.
“We know where there are still construction sites, but we still have enough time to work on it,” said Koch, optimistically two weeks before the BBL Cup tournament.
Gießen: Hamilton (9), O ?? Reilly (15, 9 assists), Kraushaar (8), Uhlemann (3), Richter (19), Zylka (11), James JR (11), Thomas (35).
Hagen: Bishop (5), Delaney (17), Cartwright (12), Giese (3), Loch (5), Haney (4), Zdravevski (10), Lodders, Spohr (13), Aminu (17), Baumann (6).
