Bakken Bears put ESSM Le Portel under pressure with emphatic home win
AARHUS (FIBA Europe Cup) - Having pronounced the Bakken Bears threat real before the Quarter-Finals, the Danish club's playcaller Steffen Wich and his players proved these words of warning to be correct.
AARHUS (FIBA Europe Cup) - Having pronounced the Bakken Bears threat real before the Quarter-Finals, the Danish club's playcaller Steffen Wich and his players proved these words of warning to be correct by inscribing a 76-62 victory against the visiting ESSM Le Portel at the Veljby-Risskov Hallen on Tuesday evening.
Turning Point: A strong start put Bakken Bears on solid footing but their lead grew to double figures in the second half and reached a game-high of 22 points in the fourth quarter (74-52) after a 14-2 run orchestrated by Michel Diouf, Tony Bishop and DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell. However, Le Portel finished the contest strong, a 10-2 run of their own, to stay alive in the tie.
Game Hero: With DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell struggling to find his groove, Jaye Crockett picked up the slack for Bakken Bears with a board-crashing and rim-crushing performance. The forward finished the game with a game-high 21 points on 9-of-13 shooting, grabbed 9 rebounds and registered 2 steals.
Stats Don't Lie: Despite not possessing a huge advantage in size over their French opponents, Bakken Bears made it a point to hit the offensive glass and were rewarded handsomely with a 21-9 edge in rebounds snatched on the offensive end of the floor.
.@bakkenbears put @ESSMbasket under pressure with emphatic #FIBAEuropeCup Quarter-Finals home win. pic.twitter.com/uSGEMiFn7L
— FIBA Europe Cup (@FIBAEuropeCup) March 20, 2018
Bottom Line: Another poor road display in the Play-Offs leaves Le Portel needing to turn around a double-digit deficit on their home floor. They successfully recovered from a 72-55 first-leg defeat against Dinamo Sassari in the Round of 16, but the magic of Le Chaudron also has its limits.
They Said: "We are on a big journey right now. We will take the games one by one and we want to go all the way. We will go to France in one week and play a new game." – Bakken Bears forward Jaye Crockett
"What a fantastic win by the boys. It would have been even better if we hadn't let the lead slip a bit at the end. We will go to France in order to compete. We will play in the same way we did today; we want to run fast and play basketball." – Bakken Bears head coach Steffen Wich
FIBA