Center Dirk Köhler had a strong performance – next up is the semi finals versus ASV Bonn
The league leading RSV Lahn Dill finished the regular season schedule with a victory over Osnabrück 74:46 (28:6 / 41:20 / 62:30). Experienced center Dirk Köhler was a key factor in the win with 18 points and 12 rebounds. The RSV Lahn Dill, led by team captain Joey Johnson, were unbeaten in the regular season and will now meet the ASV Bonn in the league play-off semi-finals on March 7th and 21st.
“We played two quarters very well, but the other two were not so great” summed up RSV coach Zeltinger. The league leaders RSV took off to a great start at the Osnabrück Goethe gym, after just seven minutes they held an 18:2 lead. The RSV shot over 70% from the field and the first quarter ended with a 28:6 score.
The RSV Lahn Dill focused their defense on Dutch national team player Mustafa Korkmaz and rendered him virtually ineffective. He shot a meager 25% from the field and had six turnovers. The visitors continued to dominate the game and midway through the second quarter they had extended their lead to 37:8. The host team Osnabrück went on a 12:4 run in the last four minutes of the second quarter when coach Frits Wiegmann made some changes.
After the half time break the RSV starting line-up, comprised of the North American trio Joey Johnson, Michael Payé and Richard Peter, and the two German national team players Annika Zeyen and Dirk Köhler, showed their powerful team proficiency. Top scorer Köhler led their strong attack, while their defense didn’t allow Osnabrück any breaks. “Ahead of us are some very important games, and the entire team needs to take on the responsibility to play well, in particular the bench players” Coach Nicolai Zeltinger noted after the game.
RSV Lahn Dill will be on the road to meet ASV Bonn Saturday at 4pm in the first round of the semi finals. Several of the Lahn Dill delegation attended the game last weekend when Bonn was defeated by Frankfurt. Bonn had their chances in the last few minutes of the game but they were unable to secure the victory. The second game of the Lahn Dill – Bonn match up, will be held on March 21st at 7:30pm in the August Bebel gym. The other semi final will be RSC Frankfurt versus Zwickau. The winners of these semi final rounds will advance to the German championship.
Osnabrück: Ronald Röttel (14), Mustafa Korkmaz (12), Brian Roberts (10),
Jens Schürmann (6), Paul Toes (4), Bernd Hüsemann, Konstantinos Tsatsoulis.
Lahn-Dill: Dirk Köhler (18), Michael Paye (14), Richard Peter (13), Gesche
Schünemann (11/1), Joey Johnson (10), Annika Zeyen (4), Thomas Gundert (2),
Felix Schell (2), Kai Gerlach, Jan Kampmann, Marco Zwerger.