Basketball life couldn´t be any tougher for the EPG Guardians at the moment as they have a walking wounded list that seemingly won´t stop. In Bremerhaven they were without key players Ty Cockfield, Dominique Johnson, David Bohm and Moses Poelking. If that wasn´t bad enough, they had lost big man Maurice Pluskota who retreated back to PS Karlsruhe. However Koblenz never hung their heads but fought hard for 40 minutes losing only 83-73. The next bad news was that they didn´t have a week to recuperate, but had to play 3 days later against top team Munster who had a 6-1 record. They are a team that finds ways to win especially in crunch-time where they won 2 nail bitters. They don´t have any real superstar, but a team that play for each other. The EPG Guardians returned back home to their living room and were unable to showcase anything near to the performance they had had in Bremerhaven as they just didn´t have the needed energy to compete for 40 minutes. They were down quickly 18-2 and they never crawled out of their hole as the Uni Baskets Munster destroyed the EPG Guardians Koblenz 98-55. “We had no chance. We were too tired and were always a step behind. We were totally empty. We couldn´t play at their level”, stressed EPG Guardians Koblenz team manager Thomas Klein. Munster came prepared and took their last game Nurnberg as a good example and didn´t underestimate Koblenz. “We played 32 minutes against Nurnberg and then let them come back. We knew they had injury problems, but we knew we had to put the foot on the gas pedal for 40 minutes. We did a good job with our defense keeping them under control which helped us get out on transition”, stressed game top scorer Jonas Weitzel (205-C-1998) of the Uni Baskets Munster. “We didn´t come out with the energy that we wanted to. We got hit in the mouth first and never responded”, stated EPG Guardians guard Michael Bradley.

Jakob Hanzalek at the FT line

The Uni Baskets Munster came out roaring and luckily for Koblenz, they found better into their game to only be down by 12 points after 10 minutes. Munster jumped all over Koblenz leading 18-2 as the CGM arena was as quiet as ever as the comparison between both teams was like night and day. Munster wasn´t really doing anything fancy, but getting easy transition baskets and just attacking the rim whenever possible as surprisingly they layed off their hot three point shooting as they were second best in the Pro A coming into the contest. Ex BBL player Jonas Weitzel dominated the paint area scoring twice while American ex Butler forward Bo Hodges supplied 9 points as his athleticism allowed him to get easy baskets. American ex Butler (NCAA) forward Tyler Groce also scored twice showing he can play above the rim. Koblenz couldn´t establish any offensive rhythm as they didn´t move well with out the ball. They did attack the rim well, but missed many easy lay ups. They did finish the first quarter in fine fashion with a 11-7 run to get back into the game and trail 25-13. American Alin Blunt and German Jakob Hanzalek scored inside while American ex NCAA 3 player Kasey Draper and German Henning Schaake made free throws. “We missed many easy shots. Koblenz could of taken more advantage of the less aggressive on ball defense they were seeing from Munster. They were containing Draper well. We played good on ball defense. Munster was doing just enough to have the lead”, stated Thomas Klein.

Jaspar Guenther from outside

In the second quarter the Uni Baskets Munster continued to up their lead and play good basketball at both ends while the EPG Guardians Koblenz couldn´t keep up with their opponent and lost more and more energy as the clock ticked down. They began almost identically with the same run of the first quarter, but this time it was a 16-2 run to extend their lead to 41-15. In the run Munster received lethal support from Spanish point guard Seikou Jawara who scored 8 points in a row including back to back three´s while ex Oldenburg German Stefan Wess hit a trey as did Weitzel. Munster stepped their game up a level in this span as they defended more aggressively on ball and upped their intensity on offense as the ball movement was better. The German support from Munster was consistent as anyone head coach Gotz Rohdewald threw at Koblenz stepped up. Koblenz got a 8-0 run down the stretch as every now and then Koblenz would execute in fine fashion. Blunt added 5 points and Hanzalek also scored as these 2 players were the only real Guardians who took responsibility on this day. German Julius Ferber delivered a clutch 5-0 run with a trey and lay in in the last seconds giving the guests the commanding 53-27 advantage at the break. “One saw by half-time that the guys were tired. Draper and Bradley were unable to play their games the way they know how to”, stressed Thomas Klein.

Jakob Hanzalek from down town

The third quarter was actually the strongest from the EPG Guardians Koblenz as they scored their most points in a quarter in the game and allowed the least points from Munster. Despite big man David Boehm scoring the first points of the third quarter, it was Munster that threw a 6-0 run in the faces of Koblenz to lead 59-29. American Nick Stampley, German Stefan Wess and Jawara all scored. It seemed like Munster was less aggressive again on ball, but Koblenz were unable to take advantage of it. Both teams began to trade baskets not helping Koblenz´s cause in their come back attempt. Munster got good support from their 2 Americans Hodges and Stampley as they scored twice to lead 65-35 as Koblenz couldn´t make any ground. Blunt and Hanzalek continued to be the only real scoring bright spots as they scored again to still trail 67-37. In between Munster was also to produce some spectacular plays as they had 3 alley-oops on the menu in the game. Their second was a pretty pass from Jawara to Hodges for the dunk. Down the stretch the little dangerous but pooped Michael Bradley hit a three pointer while Blunt made an offensive rebound and put back, but Munster still had the very comfortable 74-42 advantage after 30 minutes. “We just kept playing our game and didn´t take our feet from the gas pedal. You can´t underestimate any team in the Pro B. If you do, it can be dangerous”, warned Jonas Weitzel. “We went to zone in the third quarter which broke their rhythm only a little bit. We were able to conserve our strength. Our gas tank was empty. You could tell that our shots were short”, stated Thomas Klein.

Tyler Groce at the FT line

In the fourth quarter there was no slowing down the Uni Baskets Munster as they played the last quarter as if it was the first with super execution at both ends and some added high light film baskets. The third quarter began with an incredible alley-oop pass from young German Paul Viefhues who averaged 13,0ppg in the NBBL last season and was lauded by Thomas Klein for his play during the game made the perfect very high pass that Tyler Groce threw down with authority. “I felt like the pass was a bit too high. But Tyler can jump so high that it was no problem for him”, smiled Jonas Weitzel. That was the first basket in a 9-0 Munster run to start the last quarter as they extended their lead to 83-42. In the run, Groce would score again as well as Weitzel with an offensive rebound and put back and Viefhues made a pretty lay in. After Bohn made a lay in, Jawara and Schaake traded three pointers as Munster led 86-47. Speedy Jasper Guenther then made an acrobatic lay in shifting gears, making a nice fake and then finger tip lay in. “Guenther can be a magician if he wants to. If you let him play, he will show you plays like that”, stated Jonas Weitzel. Weitzel had found a groove and was just dominating in the paint as he was unstoppable scoring twice while Koblenz big man Aike Bensmann scored 4 points. A few weeks ago, he was balling in the second Regionalliga in Limburg and now was experiencing the Cinderella story in the Pro A. He came to help out an injury plagued team and one really couldn´t expect that much, but he really came through again scoring 4 points just like he did in Bremerhaven 3 days earlier. Henning Schaake also gave great support with 5 points. “I´m really proud of how Bensmann and Schaake stepped in and helped us get through tough times. They were out of their comfort zone and really stepped up. I really appreciate them win or lose”, warned Ty Cockfield. Down the stretch Weitzel added a three pointer and Bradley a lay in before Stefan Wess ended the game with a jumper. “What I really liked was that everyone stepped up for us tonight. A Paul Viefhues who doesn´t play so much showed that he can play at a high level, but just couldn´t show it yet because he didn´t have experience or rhythm”, stressed Jonas Weitzel. “We tried to get back to our principles in the fourth quarter. Now we will rest and wait to get some guys back and then get back to fundamentals”, warned Michael Bradley. The Uni Baskets Munster were led by Jonas Weitzel with 20 points while Seikou Jawara added 14 points and 7 assists while Tyler Groce and Bo Hodges contributed 11 points a piece while the EPG Guardians Koblenz were led by Alin Blunt with 14 points. The Uni Baskets Munster shot 52% from the field and 30% from outside and had 43 rebounds and 10 turnovers while the EPG Guardians Koblenz shot 32% from the field and 14% form outside and had 34 rebounds and 16 turnovers.