GER - Rheinenergie reign over Germany

KOLN, (Bundesliga) - Five years after entering German basketball as a wild card, RheinEnergie Koln captured their first league title by beating Alba
Berlin 85-74 on Tuesday to win the finals series 3-1.

RheinEnergie overcame a late rally by the seven-time champions to clinch the crown in Sasa Obradovic's first season as coach.

"What can you say? This is one of the best moments in my life,'' said the rookie coach, who won three European championships and one world championship as a player.

Obradovic, who played his final seasons at Koln, was draped in a Yugoslavia flag and admitted the German crown brought back fond memories of playing for the national team.

"I remember 1997 - the European Championships - wearing this flag,'' he added. ``It reminds me of it and how I felt at that time. And how I can see what
others think of us.''

And the coach had a message for the rest of German basketball.

"We have a new center of basketball here in Germany,'' he said.

Losing boss Henrik Roedl, in his first full season as head coach, was obviously disappointed to have lost.

"That's normal when you lose something you've been aiming for the whole season. But you also have to give respect to them. They showed up here. And they
did a great job over the whole series,'' said Roedl.

Koln applied lots of pressure early in Tuesday's Game Four, pulling ahead 45-32 at half-time. And Obradovic's team still led by 11 going into the fourth
quarter - 65-54.

But Alba would not lie down. As it appeared the young Koln team was ready to celebrate, the veterans from the German capital fought back to within two points - 73-71 - with about 2:30 left in the game.

The Koln youngsters, however, kept their cool and iced the game with free throws.

Glen McGowan paced RheinEnergie with 17 points while finals MVP Immanuel McElroy added 13, Marcin Gortat 12 and Titus Ivory 11.

Berlin centre Sharrod Ford led all scorers with 25 points and Hollis Price chipped in with 15 points and six assists.

But it was not enough.

"We worked for it and we believed in ourselves. We never thought it was over - not in Bamberg in Game Five or in Berlin in Game Three. And we deserve to be
champions,'' said Koln manager Stephan Baeck, whose team was making their second finals appearance after losing to Alba in 2002.

Baeck and company will take a few days to celebrate the title before starting to wonder what will happen next season as they qualified for the Euroleague next
season.

But the team's gym is much too small and the club would have to find another place to play their Euroleague games next season.

"Why waste this chance?'' Obradovic said of questions if Koln will play next season in Euroleague.

But those are worries for another day.

By David Hein, PA Sport