Like a Swiss watch: Kessens posts season-highs to stun SIG, send series back to Bonn

STRASBOURG (France) - SIG Strasbourg had it all in their hands, but could not find an answer for Telekom Baskets Bonn's Swiss-born center Michael Kessens. The 32-year-old big man led Bonn to victory for the German side to tie the Quarter-Final series at 1-1, forcing a Game 3 back in Germany.

Backed by more than 400 traveling fans, the visitors came up on Tuesday with a comfortable 76-66 road win in France.

Turning point: While the first game was a back and forth affair,  this time around Telekom Baskets Bonn were in charge for 36 minutes of the matchup. They opened up a 21-point lead in the second half, but Luca Banchi's team had one last response in them.

SIG Strasbourg climbed back to make it a ten-point game in the fourth quarter, and had a chance to make it even more interesting when Sebastian Herrera missed a wide open layup, which led to an equally wide open corner three for Martin Peterka.

The Czech big missed the shot however, and the fuel behind the comeback ran low. There was another big three-pointer by Marcus Keene in the fourth to cut the deficit to eight points, but Herrera made amends, getting a layup to restore Bonn's safe cushion and eliminate the possibility of late Tuesday drama.

Game hero: With the two teams knowing each other well, there had to be a surprise hiding somewhere. It was on Tuomas Iisalo's bench, called Michael Kessens.

Bonn's backup center posted season-highs in three seperate stat categories as he went off for 16 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists, earning an efficiency rating of 26. Bonn were a +21 team in his 26 minutes on the floor.

Whenever SIG thought they could make a run, Kessens was there for the offensive rebound or the extra pass after a short roll. Perfect timing by the man from Switzerland.

Stats don't lie: Telekom Baskets Bonn are the best offensive rebounding team in the entire BCL this season, and they picked up 15 offensive rebounds in the first game. Strasbourg failed to control the boards in Game 2, too, allowing Bonn to go up for 17 offensive rebounds.

Bottom line: Bonn's energy off the bench with Kessens and Herrera (19 points on 5 of 6 three-point shooting) was more than enough to win a road game, but the job still isn't done for Bonn. They brought the series back to their arena, but Strasbourg know how to win over there, as it became evident by last week's result.

Marcus Keene went off for 20 points, but fouled out late in the game. It was another special episode in the point guard battle between Keene and TJ Shorts (10 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists), and the coaches avoided having them guard each other, opting instead for bigger defenders against both players.

In theory, Strasbourg's plan worked because they held Shorts to 10 points, but in reality, he was +8 compared to Keene's -13.

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