The Tigers Tübingen are in the playoff semifinals for the championship in the 2nd basketball Bundesliga Pro A: In the fourth game of the playoff quarterfinals on Friday evening in front of 1200 spectators, including some Tigers fans again, in the Bremerhaven Stadthalle it was up exciting in the last second. With a free throw from Timo Lanmüller to make it 84:80 (41:35), the youngster decided the series for the Tübingen team 0.8 seconds before the end.
Playmaker Aatu Kivimäki was out for the Tigers with a foot injury. For him, Gianni Otto took over the direction at the beginning, who received support from Erol Ersek during the course of the game.
Bremerhaven, who again had to do without Jarelle Reischel, started the game a little better, driven by the strong Armani Moore. But with an Otto three to make it 13:11, the Tigers took the lead for the first time. At the end of the first quarter it was 21:21.
In the second round, the Tigers were very stable on the defensive for a long time and were leading by 41:35 at half-time.
In the third quarter, Brermhaven started stronger again and quickly equalized to 43:43. And the game remained open: it was 59:59 in the final quarter. The Tigers led most of the time, but always very closely.
By far the most successful pitcher for the Tigers was Ryan Mikesell with 25 points. At Bremerhaven, Daniel Laster and Armani Moore each scored 18 points, Kevin Yebo had a double-double (17 points/16 rebounds).
In the semifinals, the Tigers meet the winner of the Gladiators Trier series against Giants Leverkusen. Trier won the first game against weakened Leverkusen on Friday evening 92:68. It is still unclear when the semi-finals will be played.
The Tigers had started the series strongly, narrowly winning the first two games. First there was a tailor-made start: In the first quarter-final game, Tübingen had won 82:78 (73:73, 38:33) at home after extra time. He had shown: The Tigers can do crunch time.
Everything went according to plan away from home as well. On Easter Sunday, the Tigers won 82:75 (33:29) in front of 600 spectators in the Bremerhaven Stadthalle, the fans already had the semifinals in mind. But then came the bitter news that promotion, even if fought through sport, is not an option: there is no money. And then the polar bears also won in encounter number three.
According to Tigers coach Daniel Jansson, the fact that the third game was lost was mainly due to his team’s unfocused defense. Before the game on Friday, he called for a clear improvement: “If our defense sets the pace again, then we usually have a good chance,” said Jansson on Thursday. “We have to realize that this is hard work. The answer lies in the dirt.”
