JWSport Jacek Waszak – Sport journalist
In 25th round of EBL (Energa Basket League) MKS Dąbrowa Górnicza defeated Polhparma Starogard Gdański 102:90
Polhparma Starogard Gdanski must finally win because they are on last place, 16th in EBL table. If they still think to stay in EBL they need to win some games to stay in the league. Hosts Dabrowa Gornicza are in the top ten and can not play this game like on January 28th last lost an important meeting with two points on home court with Asseco Arka Gdynia 78:80. Now in this game they need to show charisma, character and rebuild team morale to count on a better place in the paly offs.
In the Centrum arena the first quarter went to the visitors. Polharma imposed its own style and started to score shots. Grzegorz Surmacz and Joe Furstinger were doing better thanks to Haney and Trevon shots. In the 9th minute Allen imposed his style and the lead grew to 10 points 23:13. Andrzej Mazurczak and Jakub Motylewski attacked from Dabrowa Górnicza and tried to make up for the loss and threw everything they could but the quarter ended up with 23-17 win for visitors.
In the second quarter we had couple of good actions by Gdañsk players like Allen and Haney who scored two or three from different positions. In the 17th minute Haney threw to the basket and the score was 41:28 it was the biggest advantage of the visitors in the whole game, 11 points to be exact. Dąbrowa Górnicza had big problems with offensive organization and rivals were playing very fast. Moore tried to respond to that, but at this stage it was not enough. Second quarter ended with only small advantage of rivals with 45:40 .
After the change of sides the third quarter looked much different because the approach and play of the team from Dabrowa Gornicza on the break was different and more aggressive. Certainly coach Alessandro Magro in the locker room had to explain and communicate his dissatisfaction with the game and defense of the hosts. In 24th minute after Nowakowski’s 3-pointer there was a tie on the scoreboard 51:51 and five minutes later Dąbrowa dominated and dictated the game at home on their own terms which was a surprise for Starogard Gdanski. Michał Nowakowski was pulling away and after his shots Dąbrowa Górnicza was making up and even grew to eight points advantage over guests. Polpharma stopped attacking and made more mistakes.
Lee Moore was also unstoppable in this quarter, who imposed his own and Dąbrowa led by 9 points, and on the board was a different result for the hosts, but the third quarter belonged to Dąbrowa Górnicza, who won this part as much as 70:61.
It seemed that the team from Dąbrowa Górnicza will win this meeting easily and they have the game under control. Fourth quarter from the beginning did not go well and unfortunately it did not go well. Hosts lost all the advantage. Polpharma got back on track and they were attacking better and Steven Haney was great from distance. After a while Sebastian Kowalczyk was leading to the tie and Allen was giving the lead. This time Dąbrowians completely lost the idea of offensive play. The end brought a lot of emotions. With about 20 seconds left Michal Nowakowski led to another 84:84 tie. In the last action visitors had a chance to win this game but Allen missed shot and it meant overtime. Game was tied 84-84 after four quarters.
Two minutes of break and both teams are thinking how to win this game to have another 2 points and get out of it.
In the overtime Dąbrowa took control and imposed their play in the attack which gave hits as they used to play and threw from the beginning because as much as 5:0, which put the hosts in a much better situation. After later Wilson’s free throws it was 97:90 and Dabrowa won this battle in overtime 18 to 6, which resulted in 102:90. Dabrowa players celebrated at home, and there was something to celebrate because they almost lost second game in a row at home. There was no doubt about it and finally hosts won this meeting keeping their chances to advance to the play offs.
Lee Moore had 27 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists while Wilson 19, Mijović 17, Mazurczak 14, Nowakowski 11, Rhett 8 and on the other side Steven Haney had 25 points.
MKS Dąbrowa Górnicza-Polpharma Starogard Gdański 102:90 (17:23, 23:22, 30:16, 14:23, d.18:6)
MKS Dąbrowa Górnicza :Moore 27, Wilson 19, Mijović 17, Mazurczak 14, Nowakowski 11, Rhett 8, Piechowicz 2, Motylewski 2, Cizauskas 2 i Kroczak 2.
Polhparma Starogard Gdański:Haney (25), Furstinger (23), Allen (17), Kowalczyk (10), Washington (7), Surmacz (6), Jarecki 2, Olisemeka (2) i Walda 2
