Tough Loss

This weekend we played a team from Berlin, Hermsdorf, at home. The first time we played Hermsdorf we lost 63-64 at the buzzer, in a game in which I didn't play very well. This game I wanted to redeem myself and help us get a win. We signed another American player this week, Kevin Reed, who played in Belgium the last couple years. He's a shooting guard who can really rebound for his size at 6'2.

We started the game on a 15-1 run and finishing the first quarter leading 20-4. We controlled the whole first quarter with our fast paced offense and our extremely high energy defense. However, when we get leads in games we tend to get comfortable and we lose our intensity at both ends of the floor. the second quarter Hermsdorf made a little run to cut the lead to 8pts, 22-30 at halftime.

The third quarter we held on to the lead but Hermsdorf was closing the gap with a high energy press and very hot shooting. We on the other hand played with very low energy and very poor shooting. Hermsdorf cut our lead to 7 at the end of the third quarter, 41-48. Our coach wasn't pleased with our play and tried to get us motivated to close out the game and get a win.

The fourth quarter went the same way as the third quarter did, with us shooting very poorly and Hermsdorf starting continuing to shoot very well. Hermsdorf tied the game at 62-62 with 1min left in the fourth quarter. We came down and missed our shot Hermsdorf rebounded the ball and converted their shot taking the lead 64-62 with 47seconds left. We came down and I was fouled with 20 seconds left giving me two Free Throws to tie the game. I made the first free throw and "some how" missed the second. However, we got the offensive rebound with 20 seconds left and had three opportunities to win the game but we missed all three shots. I missed a runner in the lane. Max missed a reverse layup and Kevin missed a three pointer at the buzzer.

I felt really bad after the game for missing my FT to tie the game. I finished the game with 10points 2ast 2stl and 2TO while shooting 4-10 from the field and 5-7 from the line. Niko lead us with 16pts and Enoch, our 7ft center had 14pts and 8rbs. The new American Kevin was 0-9 from the field and finished with 2pts from free throws. I believe he was just nervous/anxious and needs to get used to our team and our style of play.

We play next Saturday in Wolfenbuttle, a team we HAVE to beat in order to get out of last place. We need to win at least 4 of our last 6 games.