Hertener Löwen

Kofi Josephs (Herten) I Am British To The Core And It Will Always Be That Way

Kofi Josephs is a 25 year old 198cm forward playing his first season with the Hertener Loewen Basketball (Germany-Regionalliga). He got valuable experience at three schools starting with UALR (NCAA), and then moved to John Brown (NAIA) where he played two seasons playing 65 games and then finished at Fort Lewis (NCAA2) where he played two season amassing 34 games and as a senior played 31 games averaging 8.0ppg, 2.1rpg, FGP: 40.1%, 3PT: 36.0%, FT: 74.1%. He recently spoke to German Hoops about basketball.

Kofi thanks for talking to German Hoops. 2017 has come and are you the type of guy that makes new year´s resolutions or don´t you bother with that?

Thank you for having me, I’m not really the type of player to make new years resolutions, I am more so at anytime decide and something I need to work on it and start on it there and then.

You’re a rookie from England playing your first season in Germany with the Herten Lions. You recently beat the Telekom Baskets Bonn 2 107-98 and you poured home 49 points. Was this a once in a lifetime game for you or do you feel like you have the ability to score like that again?

No it wasn’t a once in a life time game, I know I have the ability to shoot and score like this again, I’ve had other good games this year. I just have to stay confident and find my groove early.

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Justin Dennis (Herten) We Can Play For The Title This Season

Justin Dennis is a 185cm guard from Canada that will start his second professional season in Germany and play for the Hertener Loewen Basketball (Germany-ProB). As a rookie he played for SV Hagen-Haspe 70 (Germany-2.Regionalliga). He played college ball at Panola JC (NJCAA), CSU Bakersfield (NCAA9 and Montana St.-Northern (NAIA). He spoke to German Hoops about basketball.

Justin thanks for talking to German Hoops. It took you 4 years to sign a professional contract last season with SV Hagen-Haspe 70 (Germany-2.Regionalliga) and now you are playing your second professional season with Herten. How blessed do you feel?

God has definitely put me in this position but he has blessed me the most with a supporting family especially my mother. She has been the fuel to my fire every time I came across a roadblock on this journey. Now that its opening up I can really showcase my talent to my club and to the league before me.

Were you nearing the end of believing as you got the job with SV Hagen-Haspe 70 (Germany-2.Regionalliga) or would you have kept working and working in hopes of getting a professional contract sometime?

I’ve came toooo far for me to turn around and go back to my job and live day to day without knowing if I could have made my dream come true, this would have haunted me forever! The grind will always pay off, so I kept the faith, kept my mom in my memories and prayed.

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Blake Poole (Herten) I Think Once I Get Going On Defense, My Offense Will Follow

Blake Poole is a 24 year old 195cm center that is playing his first season with RheinLand Versicherungen Hertener Lions (Germany-ProB). He started his basketball career in 2007 with St.Martin’s (NCAA2) where he played until 2011. In his senior year he played 29 games: 19.3ppg, 11.6rpg, 2.8apg, 1.7spg, FGP: 54.7%, 3Pts: 28.9%, FT: 73.5%. In 2011, he started his professional basketball career with Bellingham Slam (IBL) left during the season: 17 games: 12.5ppg, 10.9rpg, 1.8apg, 1.4spg, FGP: 49.3% and then played for BG Dorsten (Germany-ProB) playing 26 games: 14.9ppg, Reb-1(12.9rpg), 2.8apg, 2.3spg, FGP: 58.3%, 3PT: 24.0%, FT: 70.1%. Last season he played for Bellingham Slam (IBL): 20 games: 18.7ppg, 13.2rpg, 4.1apg, 1.9spg, FGP: 52.7%, 3PT: 32.4%, FT: 80.4%and for BG Topstar Leitershofen/Stadtbergen (Germany-ProB), injured in pre-seaon, in Oct.’12 moved to BG Dorsten (Germany-ProB): 10 games: 14.7ppg, 14.1rpg, 2.4apg, 1.8spg, FGP: 54.8%, 3PT: 33.3%, FT: 79.4%. He spoke to German Hoops about basketball.

Herten have started the season off at 1-2. Last weekend the club celebrated a 74-70 win against Braunschweig. What was giving the team the biggest problems in the first two games?

Our problems have just been getting used to playing together and understanding our roles on the team.

You only scored four points in the win against Braunschweig. How fortunate was the team for having big games from Americans Matt Reid and Jeremy Robinson?

It’s great to have players like them. It takes a lot of pressure off knowing that even if I don’t have a good game they will carry their part of the load and we can still come out on top.

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German Joleik Schaffrath Looking To Jump To The PRO A In 2010-2011

Joleik Schaffrath is a 21 year old 206cm center who played in the German Pro B for Herten last season. He started his basketball career in 2003 with the Oldenburger TB junior team. In 2005-2006, he spent a year in the United States playing high school basketball. In 2006-2007, he played for the Oldenburger TB team in the Regionaliga playing 16 games and averaging 9,5ppg. In 2007-2008, he played 21 games averaging 12,9ppg. In 2008-2009, he played his first season for Herten playing 27 games averaging 4.4ppg, 4.0rpg. In 2009-2010, he played 29 games averaging 10.9ppg, 6.9rpg, FGP: 56.0%, 3PT: 23.1%, FT: 61.5%. He took some time to talk to German Hoops about basketball.

What do you think when you hear the words „Quotendeutscher“ and „Banklehre“?

I talked to my agent about that many times but we never really took it serious. There is no reason for a player to be in the “quotendeutscher”-role on a team. A basketball player wants and has to play and that is exactly what we are searching for me. If this is not possible in the BBL then the next league for me will be the ProA.

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