“We are very happy to have won this difficult game,” said Krunic, who could be delighted by a lovely birthday present. Yesterday he was 49. “Victories are the best medicine for teams in difficult situations,” he continued – although is team did not appear to have been in one.

Ryan Thompson was in the starting line-up again after recovering from a foot injury and he caused considerable problems for the Eisbären. It was like trying to catch a fish in your hands as he repeatedly slipped through the zone. The Bonners were in general dangerous under the basket and the guests were time and again forced to stand too far away from the Baskets on the three point line. Josh Mayo, Ojars Silins and Florian Koch in particular were largely responsible for the 60 per cent distance strike rate at half time.

The Bonn defence was also able to keep pace, stopping Eisbären top scorer Quincy Diggs among others. It was working at both ends of the field. The Baskets appeared self assured and the guests had few answers. When Filip Barovic put a dream assist from Josh Mayo into the Bremerhaven basket at 32:27 at the start of the second quarter, Krunic turned around and pumped his fists on the sidelines. He liked what he had seen, his counterpart, Sebastian Machowski did not – timeout Bremerhaven. But even this did not help: a three pointer from Mayo from around twelve metres found its way into the basket. Bonn went into the break with a ten point lead and high scores from all distances.

Things got harder after their return from the changing rooms. Machowski had reorganised his defence and it was working. Successful defensive moves also allowed the guests to get their attacking play moving again and knock the Baskets off their stride. A string of lost possession on the Bonn side allowed Evan Smotrycz to equalise at 67:67 in the 29th minute. The confidence shown in the first half had disappeared as well as the lead. As Ivan Elliot scored for the guests to make it 81:79, Krunic asked again for time out. He did not rage; he was calm and collected as he advised his players to hold their nerve. And the Baskets did exactly that. Led by Thompson and Mayo and with Julian Gamble playing brilliantly at the basket, they showed they did not want to give points away without a fight.

And their attitude also paid off: Diggs handed play back to the Bonners at the free throw line, missing twice at 85:84 for the Baskets. The Baskets were thankful. The noise level in the hall was now close to playoff level. Gamble scored to make it 90:84, was fouled and yelled with emotion as he got the additional free throw.

On the opposing side, Harper Kamp was still showing resistance but time was now running out for the guests. Some poor decisions in attack and ruthless play by Bonn at the free throw line thwarted the final attempts by the Eisbären to hijack points. Fouls were not the right method against the Baskets. In the end, they only gave away one of 29 free throws.

“We spoke a lot about defence against Bremerhaven before the game. At the start of the first quarter it worked well, but then we allowed too many second chances,” explained Krunic. Eisbären coach Sebastian Machowski said: “Bonn was awarded ten more fouls and through those got a lot of points from the free throw line. That can make the difference in a close game.”

(Original text: Tanja Schneider; translated by Kate Carey.)