After nearly a decade in Germany’s second division, the historic basketball city of Hagen is back in the top flight. In the decisive fifth semifinal game against the Eisbären Bremerhaven, the Pro A regular-season champions celebrated a decisive victory.
The 3,145 spectators at Hagen’s Ischelandhalle initially witnessed a closely contested game. Throughout the entire first half, neither team led by more than five points. Hagen’s Bjarne Kraushaar established precisely that lead with the final play of the first half (40–35).
After the break, it was once again the hosts who got off to the better start and pulled ahead by double digits for the first time thanks to a 6-0 run. Then the game really opened up: Phoenix scored 17 of the next 20 points, effectively sealing the victory. Bremerhaven failed to mount a response until the very end.
In addition to top scorer Kraushaar (14), Marcus Henri Graves (12) and Jeffrey Carroll (12) also scored in double digits for Hagen. For Bremerhaven, Elijah Miller was the top scorer with 13 points.
Hagen returns to the BBL after nine years
However, despite the winning streak and guaranteed promotion, the season isn’t over yet. In the final series, Hagen now faces Kirchheim, who had already qualified for the final round on Saturday but are not allowed to be promoted due to a lack of a BBL license.
For Phoenix, the victory also marks the long-awaited return to the Bundesliga, after the club was forced to move down to Pro A the following year due to a bankruptcy filing in 2016 and has been striving for promotion ever since.
