The Niners Chemnitz basketball team has suffered a setback in its battle to reach the playoff semi-finals. The players of Head Coach Rodrigo Pastore lost 87:96 (35:42) to Rasta Vechta in front of their home crowd on Sunday. Two key players, Aher Uguak and Kaza Kajami-Keane, were missing. After two duels, the series is now tied 1:1 in the best-of-five series. The third of a maximum of five duels will be played in Vechta on Tuesday (8:30 p.m.).
The outstanding Joel Aminu (30 points), Ryan Schwieger (20), Tommy Kuhse (16) and Chip Flanigan (12) played the biggest part in the visitors' success. DeAndre Lansdowne (26), Wesley van Beck (20), Jeff Garrett (15), Jonas Richter and Kevin Yebo (10 apiece) scored the most points for the home side.
After a good start and leading by 18:13 in the 9th minute, Chemnitz, who was only able to play with eight players, came under increasing pressure due to its poor shooting percentage. Vechta pulled 27:24 ahead in the 15th minute to 54:42 in the 23rd. Despite its superiority under the boards (40:31 rebounds), the club from Saxony was no closer than 70:74 in the 33rd minute. The visitors shone with an outstanding three-point percentage. 16 of their 30 attempts landed in Chemnitz's basket. By contrast, the Fiba Europe Cup winners were only able to convert seven of their 28 attempts from distance.
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