First Loss as a Coach in Germany

On Sunday, November 15, my birthday, both the teams I coach played games. My 14u team played a lesser foe, beating them pretty easily by 40 points.

My 16u team played a very good team called UBC Munster. My 16u team has a horrible problem of over looking teams before they play them and thinking that they can just show up and beat them.

The game started with us scoring at will but we couldn't stop them on defense. We battled back and forth with them throughout the first half. However, we went into half time down 5 points.

We came out the third quarter very strong again on offense but we just couldn't seem to stop them on the defensive end. They had a very good player who was 6'6 and could bring the ball up, post up and shoot the 3 ball. He is the best 16U german player I've seen so far. By the fourth quarter we were down 11points and during the break the heads of my guys were down as though they had already lost. During the fourth quarter they battled back to cut the lead to 3points with a minute left. A technical foul by one of my players gave them a couple FT's and the ball back, increasing their lead to 5 points. We got a steal that turned into a layup cutting their lead back to 3. Another TO by them led to another score for us, putting us down 2 with 15 seconds left. I told the guys to fould but they waited to long and the time ran out. We lost by 1 62-63 to a team we should have beaten by 10points. I wasnt very happy with their play on the defensive end until the last 2 minutes of the game. They play again next weekend against a very good Hannover team. So, lets see if they can bounce back after this loss. The 14u team is 3-1 and the 16u team is 3-1.