Polar Bears lose the North Derby in Vechta

“We would have had a better chance of winning the game if we had started better. So we had to keep chasing the deficit for a long time. And that took a lot of energy,” Steven Key reprimanded his protégés’ weak start. Vechta’s superiority in the rebounds – Rasta won the duel under the baskets 40:31 and secured 18 offensive rebounds alone – displeased the Eisbären trainer: “Vechta went very aggressively to the basket and got a lot of rebounds as a result. I think we sometimes lacked the fighting spirit.”

The Eisbären were able to fall back on Jarelle Reischel, who missed the 98:60 home win against the Gießen 46ers due to hip problems. With Matt Freeman, however, a “Big Man” failed. The New Zealander twisted his ankle against Gießen. A strong rebounder like Freeman would have looked good on Bremerhaven in the Vechta cauldron.

Aggressive defense causes problems for polar bears

At first, the guests didn’t pay attention. Key called his first time-out after three minutes, when his team was 2:10 behind. By this point, Vechta had grabbed all seven rebounds. The polar bears also had problems with Vechta’s aggressive defense, which led to numerous ball losses. The first quarter clearly went to Rasta with 25:12. After a three-pointer from Rasta playmaker Jordan Johnson, the deficit even grew to 19 points (35:16, 14th). The polar bears responded with an 8-0 run and gradually found their rhythm. Simon Krajcovic and Matt Frierson set the offensive accents. The inferiority in the rebound remained the great weakness of the guests.

The key team returned to the field for the second half with significantly more intensity in defense. Vechta hardly got any easy throws and was now weakening on the three-pointer line. The polar bears caught up point by point and took the lead again for the first time since the beginning (53:52, 28th). Former Rasta pro Reischel scored a threesome to the delight of the 50 polar bear fans who had traveled with them. After 30 minutes it was 56:56 in the north derby.

Too many players remain offensively cold

In the final quarter, both teams struggled to get points on the scoreboard. That was due to strong defense and a lack of rhythm on offense. In the end, Vechta was enough with a 7-0 run to make it 72-65 to secure home victory. The polar bears showed a lot of commitment in defense, but the same was true for the hosts. Eleven polar bear points in the last quarter – seven alone went to the strong Daniel Norl – were not enough to get the quite possible away win. But the polar bears had too many players who remained offensively cold – Adrian Breitlauch, captain Robert Oehle and Chris Hooper.

“It was a bit unfortunate at the end, but Vechta deserved to win,” said Key. The polar bear coach was surprised that scouting only recorded six templates for his team: “There were many one-on-one duels, but so few assists – that can’t really be the case.”