Things went wrong for Donar in the final minutes. The Groningen basketball players lost a nice lead of eight points within five minutes and lost 71-68. It was the first semi-final of the play-offs against Heroes Den Bosch. The Brabant team of coach Erik Braal (ex-Donar) thus took a 1-0 lead.
Since Donar finished as the third Dutch team in the cross-border Elite Gold of the BNXT-League, the Groningen team had to get through the quarter-finals in the play-offs of the Dutch basketball competition. Where Heroes Den Bosch was only allowed to enter the semi-finals, Donar first met Yoast United.
Coach Andrej Stimac’s team won the best of three 2-0 and qualified for the semi-final. It concerns three games won and Heroes has the home advantage. Which means that the Groningen must win at least one match in Den Bosch. The other semi-final is between ZZ Leiden and Aris Leeuwarden, which surprisingly eliminated Landstede from Zwolle. Leiden won the first match after overtime: 99-93.
Quick recovery
Donar was bad in the game in the Maaspoort of Den Bosch in the first minutes. With a shot percentage of one in six, the Groningen team saw Heroes start sharply until 20-8. But recovery came quickly; the first quarter ended at 26-21. That strong game continued with the Stimac men. Especially when Viktor Gaddefors and Willem Brandwijk landed three points. That second quarter ended with a nice one buzzer beater three by Andrei Magdevsky. Halftime came at 45-45, after an entertaining and tense first half.
In the third quarter there was constant balance, with both teams investing mainly in strong defense. Still, Donar took a 55-60 lead, partly due to a three-pointer by Steph Branch. In that phase it seemed that the Groningen team was sitting on roses, especially when it seemed to fall in Donar’s direction in the last quarter. But halfway through that fourth quarter, sand got into the Groningen engine. The shots stopped falling and there was too much ball loss.
Great opportunity
The score changed from 62-68 to 68-68 in just a few minutes with one minute of playing time left. Donar had chances, but the ball bounced against the ring, where Den Bosch managed to score three points. In this way, the Groningen team lost an excellent opportunity to start the series with a very useful victory.
The loss was sour, but on Friday evening match number two will follow in Martiniplaza, in which the men of Stimac can equalize the score in this semi-final for the national title. The team that ultimately manages to win three games will qualify for the final.
Heroes Den Bosch-Donar 71-68
Quarter positions: 26-21, 19-24, 10-15, 16-8.
Donar Scores: Gaddefors 18, Branch 12, Mounce 10, Magdevski 9, Olisemeka 9, Brandwijk 8, Taylor 2, Williams 2.
Next game: v driving day May 12: Donar-Heroes, Martiniplaza, 7:30 p.m.