Current German Champions RSV Lahn-Dill have put a halt on Hamburg’s altitude flight and basically overrun the Northern German team with 87:48 (24:13/42:30/58:35), also thanks to a very well playing Thomas Boehme. The 21-year-old National Player added 32 points to the final score and therefore was RSV Top Scorer.
Around 800 viewers saw Boehme in the starting five for the first time this season, which Head Coach Nicolai Zeltinger changed to try out different formations and with Boehme a different point guard, too. The first two minutes though seemed to belong to the guest from Hamburg, who sprinted ahead quickly to 5:0 (2nd min). But only three minutes later RSV were leading 8:7 and did not give that position away. In the first quarter Briton Joe Bestwick shone, adding 10 points to the 24:13 (10th min), setting the stones for a confident game.
But HSV did not give up that easily and after winning three of their last four games fought against their opposition and was not to be shaken off. Only last week they played a tough game against Zwickau in their battle to lose their relegation-worries. And again this weekend the team acted confidently and thanks to youngster Martin Steinhardt and Dirk Thalheim were able to keep the game open.
“We obviously cannot be happy about how we started, or even the game up until half-time.” said an annoyed Coach Nicolai Zeltinger afterwards about lacking consequence in defence and offence. But it seemed like him and his Assistant Coach Ralf Neumann found the right words in the changing room, as his boys reappeared fresh and determined on court.
And this way of playing left it’s mark with the Hamburg team, and their mistakes became more and more often. Again and again Joe Bestwick, Felix Schell and Dirk Koehler were able to fetch rebounds and fast playing Jan Haller and Thomas Boehme both got a lot of steals on defence. A visually attractive game developed with a lot of fast breaks. Via 52:33 (25th min) and 63:35 (31st min) RSV played an enjoyable and fun game up to 73:42 (35th min).
In this phase Thomas Boehme played exceptionally, finishing his 4 three-point plays off with a safe free-throw. All in all he scored 32 points in his 40 minutes on court, got 13 rebounds as well as 8 assists and six steals. “Tommy really confirmed the trust we put in him today. Of course the team played a lot more impressive and determined in the second half, so it kind of evens out the first half.” says Zeltinger in his analysis. On the guest-team’s side it was next to Dirk Thalheim and Martin Steinhardt above all the 25-year-old Australian Bridie Kean, who only came to the team late last summer.
Lahn-Dill: Thomas Böhme (32), Joe Bestwick (17), Michael Paye (17), Dirk
Köhler (8), Felix Schell (6), Jan Haller (5), Thomas Gundert (2), Annabel
Breuer, David Amend, Christopher Huber, Björn Lohmann.
Hamburg: Dirk Thalheim (15), Martin Steinhardt (12), Nikolaus Classen (8),
Lars Mortensen (6), Bridie Kean (5), Nadine Bahr (2), Maya Lindholm, Edina
Müller.