Donar does a shoddy job, but almost wins against national champion Leiden. View the summary

Six months ago, Donar and ZZ Leiden played one of the most exciting matches in Dutch basketball history. In the Vijf Meihal, then still the home base of the Leiden team, Donar lost what seemed like a certain national title in the final minutes. After the last shot, the cozy Leiden hall exploded.

As atmospheric as the match was six months ago, it was so relaxed on Tuesday evening in Martiniplaza. Before halftime you could often hear a pin drop in the Groningen basketball temple. It should be noted that Donar’s players also did little to get the crowd behind them. The messy work that the people of Groningen delivered to the parquet could not please anyone on the red folding chairs of Martiniplaza. At those moments there is nothing more appropriate than a deafening silence.

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Sloppy Donar

Leiden did not have a child with Donar in the first two quarters. The reigning national champion – it still hurts the Donar fans a bit – quickly opened up a large gap of eighteen points: 23-41. The guests were particularly successful from behind the three-point line, where Stan van den Elzen put four of his five attempts through the net in the first quarter. Donar was not successful at anything. The passing, shooting and defending were all sub-par.

It was only in the third quarter that the crowd in Martiniplaza came to life. Donar sneaked closer and thanks to a striking three-pointer from Justinas Ramanauskas, the gap was suddenly only four points. The first fans carefully raised the ‘Donar! Donar!’ but that quickly gave way to grumbling about the referees. Almost every decision made by the men with the whistle caused bad blood among the fans.

Exciting ending

Donar just couldn’t get next to Leiden. Every time the home team came close, the guests walked away. Sometimes helped by the referees, even more often by their own carelessness. David Gabrovsek in particular made mistakes. The Slovenian tumbled on the parquet several times, threw the ball at the opponent with some regularity and missed more often than he hit.

Yet it became very exciting in the final phase. With a minute and a half on the clock, Leiden had an eight-point lead, but thanks to striking three-pointers from Karolis Babusis and John Meeks, Donar came back to 70-71. Leiden then threw one of their two free balls through the net. Babusis missed a three-pointer in the remaining twelve seconds and at the buzzer Meeks threw the ball on the ring.

American analysis

Meeks, top scorer for the Groningen side with thirteen points together with Babusis, looked back on the defeat like a true American after the lost match. “We started off weak,” he said. “But in the second half we showed that we are tough. We kept the faith and fought until the final buzzer. The last shot of the match is one I’ve been training for all summer. Sometimes the ball goes in, sometimes it doesn’t. Unfortunately not today. Every defeat is annoying, especially when the difference is two points, but we learn from this and become better.”