The Veolia Towers lost to league rival RASTA Vechta 103:109 after an intense 40 minutes. The Hamburg team fought their way back into the lead after being 18 points behind at one point.
The guests from Vechta physically attacked the Veolia Towers. Keondre Kennedy’s first move was stopped by RASTA’s Robinson with a foul. In general, the Lower Saxony team used numerous defensive variations early on – but Benka Barloschky and his team mostly found the right answers. Both teams put points on the scoreboard in unison. The score was accordingly close (28:26) at the end of the first ten minutes. While all ten players from Vechta had already appeared as scorers, Kur Kuath in particular stood out for the Hamburg team. The very agile 2.08 meter man was mainly the beneficiary of the good ball movement – the South Sudanese scored a total of 11 points in the first period.
Full volume in empty Inselpark Arena
After the first quarter break, Vechta was initially the more active team. This did not satisfy head coach Barloschky, whose instructions now echoed loudly through the empty Inselpark Arena. Even though RASTA consistently kept the point difference at five points, the Veolia Towers were significantly more active again in the middle of the second quarter. Attentive defense and the resulting ball gains allowed returning player Osaro Rich to equalize with a three-pointer shortly before the break. Because Kenneth Ogbe’s subsequent long-range attempt went off the top of the barrel, the guests were able to go into the break with a slight lead (50:53).
Photos: Max Vincen
RASTA converted the small advantage into a larger one after the break. The Lower Saxony team pulled ahead by 18 points – the Veolia Towers lacked a proven means of stopping Vechta’s variable offense. However, since point differences are more than negligible at this point in the season, Benka Barloschky continued to rotate a lot. This even gave his team a small advantage again as time went on. Despite the strenuous training schedule, the Towers were lively, more lively than Vechta at the end of the third quarter. And with a renewed boost in defense and a series of quick attacks, they were able to reduce the deficit to 76:80 before the final quarter.
Towers prove resilience
Then it became clear that neither team wanted to give the friendly away lightly. Six goals from beyond the 6.75-meter line swished through the net, evenly distributed on both sides. With six minutes left to play, the Veolia Towers had equalized the score again. Vechta tried to slow down Hamburg again by applying pressure across the entire field. However, Benka Barloschky’s newly formed team proved its resilience – Keondre Kennedy and Jaizec Lottie scored two three-pointers to give them the first lead since the second quarter. But they lacked the strength to hold on to it – not least because three Hamburg players were eliminated with five fouls long before the end of the game with the score at 103:109.
Stats: Ivey (10, 4 Ast.), Rich (10), Lottie (13, 9 Ast.), Maronka (9, 7 Reb.), Kennedy (15), Barnett, Kuath (17), Ogbe (13, 5 Reb.), Turudic (9, 6 Reb.)
