Niners Chemnitz make a successful start to the playoffs

The Niners Chemnitz basketball team has made a successful start to the playoffs for the German championship. The team of Head Coach Rodrigo Pastore won 83:77 (37:34) against Rasta Vechta in front of a home crowd on Friday. DeAndre Lansdowne (22), Wesley van Beck (17) and Ousman Krubally (11) played the biggest part in the win. Tommy Kuhse (18) and Chip Flanigan (10) scored the most points for the visitors. The second encounter between the two clubs in the best-of-five series will kick off again in Chemnitz on Sunday (7 p.m.).

After trailing 7:10 after four minutes, Chemnitz seized the initiative and pulled away with a 12:0 run to make it 19:10 (8:00). The visitors were then able to cut the deficit to three points at most, but never took the lead again over the course of the encounter. Chemnitz extended its lead midway through the third quarter. The Niners pulled away from 44:41 (24') with a 13:0 run to lead 57:41 (27') and then 66:47 (30') by the final quarter. Nevertheless, it became tense again when Vechta cut the deficit to 72:76 in the 39th minute. Yet the club from Saxony managed to hold on to its lead in the final spell.