Thomas Gundert and Gesche Schünemann were outstanding for RSV Lahn-Dill.
"This was an important game for us because the whole squad got a lot of playing time and could make their contribution,” concluded coach Nicolai Zeltinger on Saturday evening after his RSV Lahn-Dill team defeated ALBA Berlin 76:32 (24:4 / 43:8 / 63:24). This was a duel between the top (RSV) and bottom (ALBA) teams in the RBBL league. Centre Kai Gerlach who was sick, did not make the trip, as well American Michael Paye had the flu and did not start the game.
Just a few minutes prior to the start of the game RSV captain Joey Johnson rolled onto the court with a large banner reading “Thanks for 10 years of loyalty – you’re #1”. The 70 RSV fans who accompanied the team on this road trip were surprised and pleased by this gesture. The fan club used this road trip to Berlin to celebrate their tenth anniversary. The fans boarded the bus at 5:00 a.m. They were met there by coach Zeltinger and manager Andreas Joneck who supplied them with some sparkling beverages for the trip.
Marco Zwerger, who replaced Paye in the starting line-up, was inspired by the fan club and got the team off to an excellent start. Five minutes in the score was 13:0 and by the end of the first quarter the RSV had a 24:4 lead. Captain Joey Johnson demonstrated his leadership on offense, defense and from the bench as Zeltinger made several changes in personal early on in the game. “We wanted to test a variety of defenses with various line-ups.” This proved to be a good strategy, as ALBA was unable to gain any momentum. The RSV went into the halftime break with a comfortable 43:8 lead. Both Thomas Gundert and national player Gesche Schünemann played very well for the RSV.
After the break ALBA center Michael Bayer and forward Jan-Bruno Rittner were able to give ALBA a little boost on offensive. Nevertheless, the balanced contribution from the whole RSV team was too much for ALBA to handle. The RSV continued to build their lead with scores of 59:14 (26 minute mark) and 70:28 (36 minute mark). The final score in Berlin’s Max Schneling Hall was 76:32. The RSV team spent the night in Berlin, on Sunday they went to watch the Giessen 46’ers play ALBA Berlin in a BBL match.
On Saturday the RSV Lahn-Dill will host RSC Zwickau. “The focus is clear, now it is about being the number one team going into the playoffs” said coach Zeltinger. When these two arch rivals last met the RSV Lahn-Dill won the game late in the fourth quarter 66:57. Later this month there will be another tough home game when the RSV Lahn-Dill hosts Frankfurt.
Berlin: Michael Bayer (14), Jan-Bruno Rittner (10), Jens Majer (4), Oliver
Herrmann (2), Khalid Rahmouni-Alami (2), Bernhard Hesse, Ingo Kaleschke,
Karsten Lucas.
Lahn-Dill: Dirk Köhler (17), Joey Johnson (12), Gesche Schünemann (11),
Marco Zwerger (11), Thomas Gundert (10), Richard Peter (5), Michael Paye
(4), Felix Schell (4), Annika Zeyen (2), Jan Kampmann.