After the successful reparation on Sunday against Merlin Crailsheim for the clear defeat a week earlier at the Mitteldeutscher Basketball Club, Christian Held gave his team a lot of praise. The coach of the Rostock Seawolves said after the 86:79 (40:32) success and the eleventh win of the promoted team in the 23rd Bundesliga game: “It was an important exclamation mark for us, which we primarily set defensively.”
This is exactly what the coach had criticized after the game at MBC given the 102 counterpoints. Rostock’s defense was convincing against the offensively strong Crailsheimer. “It wasn’t easy because they have a lot of good throwers. Once they get going, it’s very difficult to stop them,” noted Held. He explicitly mentioned Myles Stephens, who brought the Merlins back into play. But Held also emphasized: “We defended well most of the time.”
He mainly referred to the appearance of his team until the break: “In the first half we did an excellent job.” In front of 4505 spectators in the town hall, however, in the final quarter it looked as if the game could still tip over after the Merlins were able to reduce the gap to three points several times. “It’s sometimes difficult for us to keep our focus,” admitted Held. “But today we succeeded. We finished the game the way we wanted. In the end it was a deserved win.”
With the success against 15th in the table, the Mecklenburgers have also consolidated their place in the middle of the BBL. With eleven games left, the gap to the relegation zone is already twelve points. In addition, bottom Bayreuth and the current 17th Frankfurt Skyliners still have to compete in Rostock. On the other hand, the Held team still faces major challenges in the games at Alba Berlin and cup winners FC Bayern Munich.
