Three opening wins in the Basketball Bundesliga and now a place in the cup quarter-finals: Rasta Vechta is riding a wave of success. The BBL newcomer eliminated BG Göttingen in a round of 16 thriller on Thursday and can dream of the top four.
Tommy Kuhse was actually almost on the ground, but the ball still landed in the BG Göttingen basket and the hall freaked out. With his points 36 and 37, point guard Rasta Vechta made it 101:99 (94:94, 85:85, 42:39) after two overtimes and there was only a hint of a second left on the clock – that had to be enough and it was it also. Göttingen’s last throw was too short – the fans and professionals of the BBL newcomer celebrated their next coup.
After the bang at the start of the season against Bamberg and further victories against Bonn and Tübingen, the Lower Saxony team is now the first club to reach the cup quarter-finals, which will be played on December 9th and 10th. Coach Ty Harrelson’s team is now one cup win away from the top four, which will rise on February 17th and 18th.
Two extensions in Vechta
From the start it was a game of equals. Vechta only lost the ball twice in the first half, but scored worse from the field than Göttingen. The guests converted three three-pointers in the last 80 seconds before the break and, led by Karlis Silins, went into the locker room with a 42:39 lead.
In the third quarter, Kuhse took over for Vechta: The development player scored eleven points for his team in a row, and the hosts took a 60:58 lead into the final period. There, Lower Saxony maintained their narrow lead for a long time, but with the final siren, Silins hit a three-pointer to make it 85:85 and save Göttingen into overtime.
Kuhse match winner
The guests kept taking the lead there, but Vechta kept coming back. This was also the case four seconds before the end, when Kuhse forced the second overtime with a layup to make it 94:94. And there Kuhse finally became the match winner and hit the decisive basket 0.5 seconds before the end of the game.
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NDR 2 Sport | Oct 12, 2023 | 11:03 p.m
