All that matters to them is victories – and they won. For the fourth time in a row, the Eisbären Bremerhaven scored important points in the race for the play-offs in the 2nd Basketball Bundesliga Pro A. The Bremerhaven team won against the relegation-threatened Gartenzaun24 Baskets Paderborn with 98:90. The away win brings the tenth-placed Seestädter within two wins of a playoff place. The glimmer of hope for the coveted eighth place continues to glow.
Head coach Steven Key was satisfied with his team’s performance: Despite their bad luck with injuries during the season, they were able to demonstrate their quality. Next week against the Dresden Titans, the team wants to extend their winning streak to five. “We are doing everything we can to reach the play-offs,” said Key. And the game against Dresden is extremely important for the Eisbären in order to achieve this goal: Bremerhaven, in tenth place, is currently level on points with ninth-place Dresden and four points behind seventh-place Karlsruhe. In the event of a tie, the direct comparison between the clubs decides. The Eisbären are already ahead here against Karlsruhe. Bremerhaven will contest the second comparison against Dresden on April 21st in Saxony. They have to win this game by at least seven points in order to overturn the 81:87 first leg defeat and stay in the race.
Play at eye level
As was the case last week in Bayreuth, the Eisbären got off to a worse start against Paderborn, although coach Steven Key was back on a larger rotation following the return of top scorer Nick Hornsby (missed for personal reasons) and Lenny Larysz (neck injury). could fall back. The starting five of Aaron Cook, Matt Frierson, Jarelle Reischel, Nick Hornsby and Robert Oehle scored the first points of the game (0:2, 1st). However, the Paderborn team found a better rhythm offensively afterwards. “Paderborn moved the ball well at the beginning and showed a strong team performance, which was difficult for us to defend,” said coach Key. This meant that the opponent was able to pull away to 20:12 halfway through the first quarter. “It was clear to us that Paderborn wouldn’t make it easy for us. They had their backs to the wall and fought,” said Key. Robert Oehle, who was outstanding, especially in the first half, then scored six points in a row (two free throws and two layups) and thus equalized the game (20:20, 7th). Thanks to another layup from Adrian Breitlauch, the Seestädters briefly took the lead (22:24, 8th). We then went into the quarter break with a score of 26:26.
In the second quarter it remained exciting and the game was at eye level. The Paderborn team took the lead several times and the Bremerhaven team equalized several times (30:30, 14th). When the score was 43:42, the Baskets started a run – triggered by a total of four sunk free throws by guard Quashawn Lane – and pulled ahead to 52:44 (19th). “We made the game unnecessarily difficult for ourselves,” summed up Key, whose team briefly lost touch due to too many ball losses. At halftime it was 52:45 for the hosts.
The Eisbären then opened the second half with a three-pointer from Jarelle Reischel (52:48, 31st). Nevertheless, the guests didn’t get any closer to the Paderborn team as they continued to play strong offensively. But then the momentum shifted and the Eisbären sank three three-point throws: Hendrik Drescher started the three-pointer, Jarelle Reischel sank the ball as the buzzer sounded and Adrian Breitlauch finished from the corner (70:69, 39th). Jarelle Reischel, the game’s top scorer (22 points, two assists), scored the last points of the quarter (72:71) shortly afterwards and kept the Eisbären in the draw.
Bremerhaven shows nerves
After almost four minutes played in the last quarter and the score was 79:73 for the hosts, the Eisbären did it again: As in the last game against Bayreuth, they started a furious 11:1 run. Led by Aaron Cook, the Seestädters took the lead (84:80, 35th). The Paderborn equalized again, but Cook found Breitlauch under the basket, who finished with an and-one (successful basket attempt despite a foul) (85:86, 37th).
In crunch time (in German: final phase of the game) things really got down to business from Bremerhaven’s point of view: Although the Baskets tried to stick with it, Key’s team didn’t let themselves be disturbed. After a basket from Cook and four points from Breitlauch, the Eisbären led by five points (93:88) in the final minute of the game. The Seestädters were convincing both under the basket and from the free throw line: Nick Hornsby and Jordan Giles ultimately brought the game home. “In the second half we reacted well in defense and dominated the board when it came to rebounding, that was the difference,” said Coach Key. The statistics confirmed this: With 49 to 32 total rebounds, the Eisbären once again demonstrated their strength.
Eisbären Bremerhaven: Cook (16), Giles (7), Frierson (3), Larysz (0), Reischel (22), Breitlauch (18), Oehle (20), Drescher (5), Hornsby (7).
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2024-04-14 17:10:00
#Bremerhaven #closer #playoffs #Basketball #Bundesliga
