After a dominant performance, defending champion Koi Carper has dealt the first blow in the men’s main class play-off of the Surinamese Basketball Association (SBA). The team defeated De Arend 79-60 and leads the best of 5series 1-0. Game 2 is Tuesday evening in the Ismay van Wilgen Sports Hall. “I assume that my players will perform better. And then I think they will be able to come home with the victory,” Koi Carper coach Ludwig Belgrave said afterwards. the True Time. But counterpart Humphrey Eendragt also thinks that De Arend will play a better second match. “We have to make it 1-1! There is no other way,” he told the newspaper afterwards.
Text and image Terence Oosterwolde
Koi Carper, which won three of the four games against De Arend in the general round, took the lead after fourteen seconds on Sunday evening through a basket by Kelvin Monkau. It then took 2.5 minutes before Andrew Blijd leveled De Arend: 2-2.
Captain Emile la Rose and Foetjaro Alankoi then created a 6-2 lead, but after that all that was happening was Koi Carper. By a 12-0 run the defending champions took a 14-6 lead with 2:54 remaining. The first quarter was closed 17-9 after one three-point play from Monkau with 59.3 seconds.
Crucial run
De Arend started the second period strongly and scored the first six points, including one three pointer by Joey Tojo: 15-17. After Sandino Proces and Laqwyn Brondenstein scored (19-22), Koi Carper escaped with 6:11 in a time-out.
The stoppage paid off, as De Arend was completely overwhelmed in the next two minutes and 47 seconds. Substitute Cliff Forster had six points in the 10-0 run and brought with back to back baskets the score at 32-19. Thanks to two free throws from Alankoi and a basket from Blijd, De Arend closed the score to 23-32 at halftime.
Comeback parried
Two three pointers van Blijd and one from La Rose and a field basket from Blijd evened the score with 7:24: 34-34. Belgrave was therefore once again forced to do so time-out to take. This also had its effect, as Koi Carper ran out to 41-34.
De Arend knew after one three pointer van La Rose to close within two points with 2:47 to go: 41-43. However, from then on it was one-way traffic. Koi Carper went 12-2 run and closed the third quarter with a 55-43 advantage.
Coach Eendragt attributed the setback to no longer keeping the ball in the team. “There was no passing. One of our starting players dribbled the ball just too much. He lost the ball two or three times and also took shots over three or four men. It was actually no longer a team game at the end of the third quarter,” he reflected.
According to Eendragt, the intention is for De Arend to play in a measured manner. “If you run the ball well, attack in a measured manner and take good shots, you will be fine. But it was a one-man show in the third.” quarter. That is actually a collective phenomenon with us that we dribble too much.”
Double disqualification
The lead was not threatened in the last ten minutes, partly because De Arend missed a lot. The substitutions in this team were striking. After 54 seconds, La Rose and Blijd were brought in at 9:06, but after one turnover La Rose was immediately taken out again at 8:40. Blijd stayed in the game, but with his turnovers and misses he did his team no favors.
Koi Carper scored the first five points of the period, while a free throw by Blijd at 6:25 was De Arend’s first point after more than 3.5 minutes of play. With 5:10 La Rose had one three pointer (47-62), but with a three-point play Immediately afterwards, Monkau brought the difference to eighteen points.
With 3:19 left, Blijd and Watamaleo were sent off with a disqualifying foul at a 70-48 score. Initially only the guard van De Arend was disqualified after he waved at Watamaleo when he hit him with his elbow. The refereeing trio met briefly and then decided to send Watamaleo to the changing rooms. As a result, both miss guards game 2. “Somebody will have to take Watamaleo’s place. Somebody has to step up,” Belgrave looked ahead to the veteran’s non-participation on Tuesday.
In the remaining time the match could be completed without any ‘calamities’. Even the introduction of substitutes did not endanger Koi Carper’s lead. The team ultimately triumphed 79-60. “If I look at my preparation, I am satisfied with the play of my team,” said winning coach Belgrave.
However, he immediately admitted that there are also areas for improvement. “The players have to stick to the tactical things we have agreed on, because that doesn’t always happen. They switch to their own game too quickly and then you see the opponent come back into the game.”
Belgrave was satisfied with the contribution of his substitutes. “They were sublime,” he praised them. “On the field they were even better than me starting five. They have created a considerable lead.”
Absent key players
De Arend arrived battered on Sunday evening. Demien Maarbach, Chesron Patrick and Nathan Sandvliet were missing from the match selection. “They played six games in two days,” Eendragt said, referring to the trio’s participation in the 3×3 tournament, which the SBA organized on Friday and Saturday on the eve of the play-off. “We asked the SBA for a postponement – not only me, but also the national coach – but the board did not want it. So I rested the three boys as a precaution.”
This meant that De Arend, as the coach put it, played on Sunday “with a completely different team” than the last match when a stunt was committed against leader SCVU. “Maarbach, for example, is good for ten, twelve points under the ring and we missed that today.”
Optimism
Eendragt is approaching Tuesday’s match with hope. “Because I know we have a lot to offer. Now I just have to see which players I field and which I don’t. Because actually if they all do their job well, they are all equally good. So it’s more about their teamwork and their ability to work together.”
Another sore point was the defense. “We are also leaking in defense. The zone worked against SCVU, but that does not mean that you will do the same against Koi Carper. So we now have to look at what are our strengths, what are our weaknesses and we have to improve our weaknesses.”
Monkau led Koi Carper with eighteen points. Archinio Prado and Chaïef Wielingen, who are both one three pointer scored, each had eleven points. Jermelcio Wartes finished with ten points. La Rose (22 points/4 three pointers) and Happy (13 points/2 three pointers) were the only De Arend players in double figures.
