“The past few weeks have not been good for us. So I’m all the more happy for my team that they finally won again, ”said head coach Steven Esterkamp.
On Friday evening in Trier, the series of consecutive failures had grown to five. In the clear 82: 102 (37:37) defeat, the paths in the one-sided third quarter (19:35) parted forever. Especially under the baskets, the baskets around top scorer Grant Benzinger (24 points) had nothing to order against the best rebound team in the league (22:54) – despite the comeback of Tom Alte, who for the first time since January 16 again from a ProA -Party had been.
The thumb – Ward has to fit too
Almost 46 hours later, many things should get better, but initially there was again bad news. New game, fresh worries. Almost no appearance without sudden Paderborn problems. The worries that have been with Uni Baskets throughout the season remain persistent. On the 23rd matchday it was Demetrius Ward who had to be content with a passive role during the warm-up. “Dimi” injured his thumb during training on Thursday. The pointguard tried it against Trier despite the pain – but: “Now it’s better if I take a break. I’ll go to the doc on Monday and hope it’s nothing worse, ”said the 30-year-old.
Without Demetrius Ward, Badu Buck (also injured on the thumb) and captain Ivan Buntic (inner ligament tear), the hosts struggled to find a rhythm even against the table penultimate. The guests met eight of their first twelve threesomes, with the Baskets it was the increasingly self-confident Jens Großmann (ten points in half one) who stood out from the ten Paderborn players who had scored by the break.
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As long as there is a chance, we will fight for it.
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If Esterkamp on the Moselle had to watch the break-in of his family in the third quarter, they set the course for victory two days later in the third section (22:12). After a three from Daniel Mixich, the Baskets were then for the first time with ten points (76: 66/34.), A little later it was 14 (80: 66/36.) And the home win was as good as bagged. “The difference between the two halves was that we defended much better in the second 20 minutes. The guys did really well, ”said Esterkamp. He also knows that the win with a view to a play-off spot is likely to have come too late, but says: “As long as there is a chance, we will fight for it.”
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