Rostock (dpa/mv) - Christian Held made no secret of his disappointment after the 84:91 of the Rostock Seawolves against the MLP Academics Heidelberg on Sunday. The head coach commented that the weakened basketball team, in which the top performers Derrick Alston (ill) and Nijal Pearson (mourning) as well as Till Gloger (ill) were missing, left the field as losers for the fourth time in a row: "These Defeat hurts."
The fifth win of the season in front of 4202 spectators in the town hall was within reach for the promoted team. Because in the 38th minute Rostock had led 82:77. After that, however, the guests were able to turn the game with a 9:2 run to a 86:84. There was still 20 seconds to play. Rostock would have needed a three in the remaining time to keep the chance of extra time. But that didn't work. On the contrary, Heidelberg followed suit and carried away the victory.
Nevertheless, Held emphasized: "I'm incredibly proud of the way they fought, although the flu has been around in our team for a week and a half. We can't train properly because one is out and the other is coming back." The fact that his team was able to compensate for the absence of Alston, Pearson and Gloger deserved respect from the coach. "I take my hat off to the team's will to fight. That will definitely carry us a little longer."
