Half of it looked good for the Heroes basketball players. But due to a dramatic start after the break, the team lost all chances of a victory. A small lead quickly turned into a big disadvantage. It ended up being 87-68. The Bossche basketball players have to win at home on Friday to keep their chance at the championship, if that doesn’t work then Leiden is champion.
Heroes started the match in Leiden remarkably strong in contrast to the previous match in Den Bosch. The team was calm and patiently waited for openings in the Leiden defence. The small lead at halftime (41-44) was deserved.
After the break, Leiden started to play faster and especially hit three-pointers. The Leiden American Dunn scored 18 points on his own in just over four minutes. Heroes could not tame him, lost track himself and scored only five points in that phase.
Heroes coach Eric Braal was very disappointed with the phase after the break. According to Braal, the referees whistled an unsportsmanlike foul that was not. That changed everything in the eyes of the coach for his team. “We had a mental meltdown. Super disappointing that one moment can cause that.”
Braal noted that his team lacks a leader who can take the team by the hand and show what needs to be done. “Mike Carlson has that, but he is injured at home.”
All the confidence built up from the first half had ‘suddenly’ disappeared and Heroes couldn’t get much done in the course of the match. Shane Hammink became Heroes’ top scorer with 18 points.
The team that first wins three games in the play-offs for the championship is the champion. The score is now 2-1 for Leiden. The fourth game will be played in De Maaspoort on Friday evening.
“We just have to do what we did for 25 minutes, because we had the game under control. That has to be done again on Friday,” concluded coach Braal. A possible fifth game will be in Leiden on Sunday afternoon.
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