Short bench – big fight!
The Towers, stricken by Corona, fought back against leader Joventut Badalona in the EuroCup until their strength dwindled. In the end, Hamburg‘s basketball players lost 75:92 (38:37) to the favored Spaniards.
“We never gave up and always tried to fight,” said playmaker Justus Hollatz (14 points). “So we can be proud of ourselves.”
Missing from the towers were infected Seth Hinrichs, Lukas Meisner and Ray McCallum. In the afternoon there was also a positive test from a team member from the area (physio Nicolai Stempel was missing).
“It’s very, very difficult. But we can’t just dig in and say the world is mean,” stated boss Marvin Willoughby. “We could at least train.”
After the extremely strong first quarter, the towers even led 22:12 thanks to the outstanding defense!
Only in the second half did the Spaniards take over in front of 307 fans – and the individual class and the lower squad prevailed. Hollatz: “In the second half you saw what strengths they have. Then Badalona turned up the energy and it was difficult for us to fight back.”
The best thrower was again top scorer Caleb Homesley (22 points).
“We played a good first 20 minutes,” said coach Pedro Calles. “We had more energy and were more focused on our plan. We didn’t maintain our concentration in the second half.”
On Saturday we continue against Ulm in the Bundesliga (6 p.m., Magenta Sport).
