Just a few moments after the hard-fought and intoxicating victory in the top game against the Itzehoe Eagles, when the sweat was still running and dripping, Thomas Reuter looked <!––> on the tasks ahead. “We also look at the table and know that you can’t leave a lot behind in this tight league,” said the forward of WWU Baskets Münster <!––>who moved up to second place with their sixth home win in their sixth game. The team from Berg Fidel wants to defend its position behind the undisputed front runners Bochum (9: 1 victories), but needs one on Saturday (6 p.m.) with a view to the closely staggered field of pursuers – four teams have only one defeat more than the Baskets Victory at the RheinStars Cologne.
The promoted team got off to a great start with a 5: 1 series, but then a 1: 6 run followed with four defeats in a row. “Cologne is currently in a relatively difficult phase after a very good start,” says Munster coach Philipp Kappenstein <!––>who, five days before Christmas with his protégés, inflicted their second defeat on the RheinStars at 93:71. The 41-year-old sees injury problems as the reasons, with Viktor Frankl-Maus and captain Tibor Taras missing two important forces in the team of coach Johannes Strasser. Nevertheless, Kappenstein approaches the duel in the cathedral city with “very great respect”, he classifies the game in the category “key game”. Especially since Münster in a foreign country still has some catching up to do with four bankruptcies in six games. “Cologne will want to return the favor for the too obvious defeat in the first leg. It will be very important for us to show that, after strong performances at home, we can also win away with a playoff team – and I definitely include Cologne in this – and so gold the Itzehoe victory. That must be our claim. ”
The repetition of the gala performance (currently defensive) against Itzehoe would increase the chances, the senses of the baskets, in which Helge Baues is about to return to the squad after his elbow injury, are sharpened. Because, as Reuter said, the baskets don’t want anything anymore.
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