Basketball playoffs: Swiss Central in reserve
basketball playoffs
Second defeat in the second game: Swiss Central loses to the Lions de Genève after extra time
Swiss Central Basket is again defeated by the Lions de Genève in the second playoff quarter-final game. Orlando Bär’s team loses 72:61 after overtime. The Central Swiss need a win at home on Saturday – otherwise the season will be over.
“We want to steal a game in Geneva.” That’s the target set by Swiss Central coach Orlando Bär at the start of the quarter-final series (Best-of-5) against the Lions de Genève. After the clear 58:83 defeat in the first encounter, the next chance came on Tuesday evening. And this time, the first playoff success in the history of Swiss Central was just a little missing.
Especially in the third quarter, the Central Swiss left a strong impression. Led by US top scorer Antwoine Anderson, SCB managed to outplay the Geneva defense time and time again. In addition to Anderson, the young Kelechi Obim (21) also knew how to please in this phase. With 12 points and 5 rebounds, the homegrown SCB proved once again that he can also play an important role at the highest Swiss level.
In the fourth quarter, too, the guests had the majority of the game under control. 1 minute and 42 seconds before the end of regular time, the Central Swiss leads 55:50. The Americans Jack Rauch and Antwoine Anderson then had the chance to extend their lead even further with two free throws and a three-point attempt. But while the SCB shots missed their target, the Geneva wing Brandon Kuba hit a three to make it 55:53. After two more Geneva points, the game goes into overtime.
The series continues in Lucerne
In the five-minute extra time, nothing went together for Swiss Central. The majority of the SCB players seemed to be at the end of their tether. In addition, in these all-important minutes, critical referee decisions tended to be made by the home team. While the Genevans let their fans celebrate frenetically after the final siren, the guests walked away with their heads bowed.
Meanwhile, coach Orlando Bär tried to keep his composure and comfort his team with encouraging words. “I’m proud of every single player who was on the field today,” said Bär. “We did a lot of things right.” And then Bär repeated what he emphasized after the first game: “This series is far from finished. On Saturday we play at home – in our hall, in front of our fans. We will seize this opportunity.” If this does not succeed, the SCB season would end with a 0:3 playoff defeat. Such a conclusion would not be desirable for the climber, who has been so courageous and successful so far.
Swiss basketball league Playoff Quarterfinals (Best-of-5). 2nd game:
Geneva – Central Switzerland 72:61 (27:23); Score 2:0
Sal Pommier. – 527 spectators. – SCB: Anderson 23, Philipps 2, Rauch 11, Jusovic, Plüss, Fuchs 3, Obim 12, Leemans 4, Lehmann 6, Schärer – Trainer: Bär/Popovic. – Absent: Ganic, Birboutsakis, Mitrovic, Schubiger.