Yes, yes, yes – they did it! After twelve long years (2011), BG Göttingen is back in the playoffs of the basketball Bundesliga for the first time.
Würzburg/Göttingen – In front of 2519 spectators, the violets win 92:74 (52:44) at the Würzburgs Baskets and thus make the final round perfect in the fourth to last main round game. Huge cheers from coach Roel Moors and his team.
The coach clenches his fists, the players do a wild dance in front of the few BG fans. “I want to enjoy this victory, today I just want to be happy,” says Moors, moved in the MagentaSport interview.
The newly committed Rob Edwards is missing from the Göttingen team due to back problems. In the starting lineup, Coach Moors brings Geno Crandall in place of Mark Smith and Rayshaun Hammonds for Harper Kamp.
Würzburg playmaker Cameron Hunt puts his “Reds” in front with a three. Till Pape scored the first points in Göttingen – and also provided the first guest lead at 6:5. Rayshaun Hammonds makes it 10:7, but the Baskets then start a 7:0 run and Felix Hoffmann hits a three to make it 17:12 for the Main Franconia. Würzburg is ahead, but Harald Frey and Smith reduce the BG deficit to 22:26 after the first ten minutes.
After an unsportsmanlike foul by Colin Welp, Mathis Mönninghoff converted all three free throws to make it 27:28. With a three by Javon Bess, the Goettingen set up a 13:4 series and lead 35:30 through Mönninghoff’s three, but immediately gambled away their momentum to 37:37.
As a result, the violets are on the trigger, they seem a bit more concentrated than the baskets. Crandall scored six points – his best game up to that point after his four-game suspension. At 47:40 for the Göttingen, Würzburg coach Sasa Filipovski committed a technical foul, Pape hit the free throw that was due to make it 48:40. Frey and Smith extend the lead to 52:41 before Stanley Whittaker sinks another three for the hosts. 52:44 for the BG at halftime, that looks decent.
And it stays that way! With an 8:0 run, the violets pull away to 60:48. Pape nets the next three to 65:55, after 30 minutes the Goettingen are in front with 72:59. Surely nothing will burn anymore?
No, the BG stays cool, especially the “Eiskalt-Harald” from Norway. Frey welds a threesome as a buzzer-beater to make it 79:68, just as Würzburg has smelled something of a rat. Previously, the blond had only met one in five.
And after Mark Smith completed his double-double (19 points, 10 assists), Frey nailed another three into the Baskets net to make it 82:72. Very “Harry cool”! Bess and Smith convert the threesomes eight and nine, that’s where it becomes really clear for the BG. At 8:49 p.m. the BG dream is reality. Finally reached the “post-season” again, maybe even against FC Bayern Basketball – the Munich team are coming to the S-Arena for the third to last home game on Sunday (6 p.m.).
“We played convincingly,” Moors praised his team. “A good performance for 40 minutes!” And Captain Harper Kamp is also happy, so excited that, speaking good German, he lapses into English on TV: “I’m very proud of the team. That’s so many good guys. The ambitions are there to win even more.” The return trip from Würzburg – this time in vans instead of buses – is one big celebration! They deserve the violets!
BG: Hammonds 5, Frey 16/of which 3 threes, Crandall 13, Boakye, Smith 19/1, Ani, Wüllner, Mönninghoff 6, Kamp 4, Pape 19/2, Bess 10, Giotis.
Best Würzburg: Whittaker 23/1, Hunt 18/2. (Helmut Anschütz/gsd)
#Goettingen #Würzburg
