In the reunion with old RSV acquaintances Stefan Donner and Nora Schratz, who are now both with the Frankfurt side, RSV Caption Joey Johnson showed strong leadership once again. With 16 points, 15 rebounds and twelve assists, the 33 year old Canadian posted a “Triple Double”. The match hosted at the Ginnheimer Wilhelm Merton sports hall was great for the spectators and the TV cameras who were broadcasting the game. It was a quick and aggressive game, typical for these two teams.
The high speed was to Frankfurt’s advantage, especially in the third quarter. The RSV Lahn Dill team tried to slow down the game and to control the pace. However, the host team RSC Frankfurt kept up their quick attack tactics and were able to reduce the Lahn Dill lead to three points. (50:47)
The RSC forced numerous turnovers and capitalized on them, going on a 10:4 run before Coach Nicolai Zeltinger could call a time out and settle his team down. “Perhaps we were dong too much experimenting” analyzed Zeltinger after the game. At this point the game became very exciting as the teams traded baskets throughout the fourth quarter. Under the guidance of Coach Stefan Donner, top scorers for Frankfurt Sebastian Wolk and Lars Lehmann kept the game close. After cutting the lead to 50:47 earlier in the game, they fought back to within two points of the RSV Lahn Dill (70:68) late in the fourth quarter.
It became clear after another time out by Zeltinger who the victor would be in this 8th game of the RBBL. “We showed the killer instinct needed in the last few minutes to win these close games and to win another title” said RSV Coach Zeltinger. Led by Michale Paye who hit 6/6 from the foul line and added 12 more points his team ended the fourth quarter with a 16:1 run and won the game 86:73.
With these two recent successes against their closest competition, Zwickau and Frankfurt, the RSV Lahn Dill has secured an excellent position to fight for top play-off placing. On Saturday at 7:30pm the team will play their last preliminary home game against Osnabruck.
Frankfurt: Lars Lehmann (20/1 Dreier), Sebastian Wolk (20), Johannes Hengst (11), Silke Bleifuß (10), Andreas Kress (8), Kenon Kahsai (4), Heike Friedrich, Nora Schratz, Jörg Wycisk.
Lahn-Dill: Michael Paye (32), Joey Johnson (16), Richard Peter (16), Dirk Köhler (8), Gesche Schünemann (6), Annika Zeyen (4), Kai Gerlach (2), Thomas Gundert (2), Jan Kampmann, Felix Schell, Marco Zwerger.