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Agile Australian: Göttingen’s Grant Anticevich in the middle on the ball against MBC big man John Bryant (right) and Ralph Hounnou (hidden). © Hubert Jelinek/gsd
It was hot and stuffy in the “SWH.arena” in Halle, but BG Göttingen kept a cool head.
Halle/Saale – After a long, almost two-hour game, the violets won their first test in the preparatory phase for their 15th season in the basketball league at Syntainics MBC Weißenfels with 80:72 (44:30) and thus set a first example.
Interesting: In the team of the new coach Olivier Foucart, with Mathis Mönninghoff, there was only one player from last season. But after a good ten days of training, the new squad showed a very decent match – this start gives hope for a lot more!
“Winning is not important to me,” Foucart said afterwards. “I was satisfied with the intensity and the mentality. And also how hard the team has. We still had a lot of mistakes, we all have to get to know each other better. After the hard training, the freshness was still missing. But when the team got tired, they kept fighting.”
The MBCers started with five players from last season, so it was at least to be assumed that they might be more attuned than the almost completely newly formed BG. But this was a fallacy. The Göttingen put down a first half that was not to be expected. It was – of course – far from seamless, but the BG game was in good flux.
In the absence of playmaker-to-be Deondre Burns (and Harper Kamp), Umoja (“Mo”) Gibson kicked things off, supported by Zach Ensminger and also by German champions Fedor Zugic (with Ulm), the latter playing more on the outside. And what about the big boys?
The most striking was Karlis Silins! The 2.11m Latvian played very flexibly both inside (six points) and outside (three threes) plus two free throws, which made the giant with 17 points the top scorer. So as a center he can also do cool threesomes.
The US boy Bodie Hume and the Australian Grant Anticevich were not quite as much in focus. But they also indicated that there was still a lot of potential in them. Solid Osaro Jürgen Rich and as ever Mathis Mönninghoff, who managed a four-point game to 66:54.
“Everyone had good minutes,” summarized BG boss Frank Meinertshagen, who insisted on watching the first game on site. “Despite the heat in the hall, it was a good first test with a lot of energy.” Newcomer Zach Ensminger saw it similarly: “Everyone gave their best. For the first test that was good with a lot of energy.”
Convalescent Harper Kamp also saw a “good start”. “We played with a lot of intensity, did a lot of good things, played well together and shared the ball well.” That’s how things can continue, first of all next weekend with two BG tests in Belgium.
MBC – BG 72:80 (30:44)
BG: Ensminger 12/1 Dreier, Gibson 8/1, Rich 5, Zugic 15/2, Schultz, Mönninghoff 9/2, Hume 5/1, Boakye, Jünemann, Silins 17/3, Wüllner, Anticevich 9/1. Best MBCers: Breunig 12, Baldwin 13/1, Bryant 13. (Helmut Anschütz/gsd)
Strong Latvian: BG center Karlis Silins (on the ball) against MBC newcomer Diante Baldwin. Right Kostya Mushidi. © Hubert Jelinek/gsd
2023-08-30 02:47:00
#launch #hope
