At the start of Sunday evening’s “crime scene”, the tension rose: wheelchair basketball player and Paralympics bronze medalist Thomas Reier (RBC Köln 99er) drew BG Göttingen as the first draw in the draw for the quarter-finals in the BBL Cup in the Telekom Dome in Bonn – and that of the Frankfurt Skyliners second.
Göttingen – It was immediately clear: on the 7th/8th. In December there will be a quick rematch of the season opening game in the Basketball Bundesliga between Southern Lower Saxony and Southern Hesse – but the Violets have anything but fond memories of it because they suffered a 28-point home defeat against the BBL returnees. It goes without saying that coach Olivier Foucart’s team is now looking for revenge.
“I am very happy about the home game and that we will have our fans behind us,” says Foucart. “As you saw this weekend, there are no easy cup games. We already played against Frankfurt at the opening of the season – it will be a big challenge to qualify for the TOP FOUR.”
The Göttingen team surprisingly knocked favorite Würzburg out of the competition last Friday. Veilchen’s opponent Frankfurt prevailed in the first round against second division team Trier and defeated Oldenburg in the round of 16.
BG center Demajeo Wiggins expressly thanked the fans after the Würzburg victory. “It just takes a while to adapt to the league. We distributed the ball well and then good things are possible. The two new guys are good guys.”
Wiggins was referring to Kostja Mushidi and Tra Holder. “We gave it our all,” said Mushidi immediately after the surprise success. “The victory was very important for the location. I’m glad I was able to do my part.” Which was still 20 points! Another guarantee of success was Jimmy Boeheim: eleven points in the last five and a half minutes. Was this the ex-Tübingener’s “coming out”? BG boss Frank Meinertshagen: “I wanted a home game. It would be even nicer if we reached the top four now.” There would be another 50,000 euro bonus for that. The BG was last in the top four of the cup with 600 fans in Frankfurt in 2011 and lost the game for third place 65:90 against Bremerhaven.
. The other quarter-finals: Syntainics MBC Weißenfels – MLP Academics Heidelberg, Bamberg Baskets – Alba Berlin, FC Bayern Munich – SC Rasta Vechta. (haz/wg-gsd)
