96:56-success in Baden-Wuerttemberg – Zwickau struggling
Top-of-the-table team RSV Lahn-Dill are keeping their spot on the bright side of the RBBL with their sovereign 96:56 (22:9/43:25/71:40) success over SGK Heidelberg, whilst Zwickau had their second away-defeat in a row. RSV-captain Michael Paye was top-scorer with 32 points.
It was also mostly down to the US-American, that the first lead by hosting team Heidelberg with 2:0, scored by U23-world-champion Leon-Ole Schoeneberg, was turned into 9:20 (8th min). His 18 points in the first quarter alone did not only excite the around 60 Lahn-Dill fans who travelled with their team to the beautiful town of Heidelberg but also the fans of the opposition.
RSV Lahn-Dill continued to act focussed and had a high hit-ratio of 61 percent, which deprived the hosting team of all hope relatively early on. Despite the efforts of SGK top-scorer Andre Hopp, who introduced another glimpse of confidence at the 13:28 (13th min), RSV and especially Dirk Koehler made the situation clear again at the 14:36 (18th min). In the end the numbers spoke for the centre-trio Joe Bestwick, Felix Schell, and Dirk Koehler, who got 35 rebounds as opposed to Heidelberg’s 22.
„We did a focussed job, despite the changing line-ups.” RSV-head-coach Nicolai Zeltinger was happy about his team and their great start into the second half. How spirited his team was, was also visible looking at the 28 assists, 15 of which were made by the two super-fast guards Thomas Boehme and Steve Serio.
This way the guests from Middle Hesse continued to push the score further up after half time, too. But after the 66:36 (29th min) by top-scorer Paye the team coached by former RSV-player Marco Hopp reared up again. The “young guns”, as they call themselves, played with high moral and despite their situation still delivered a great slugfest. “I have a lot of respect for such a young team” Zeltinger appeared impressed after the final whistle.
But before that whistle blew, the 17-year-old Christopher Huber delivered the highlight of the game when he hit a three into the basket of U22-team mates Leon-Ole Schoeneberg and Nico Dreimueller in the final seconds of the game. After this game RSV are now still unbeaten and were able to increase the gap to spot number two. The reason for this is the fact that arch-rivals from Zwickau had their second away-defeat in a row, this time against Mainhatten Skywheelers 59:69, and have slipped onto spot number three of the table.
This means, that RSB Team Thueringen have fought their way back onto the second spot, before they will be hosted as the first team of the new year by RSV Lahn-Dill. US-Americans Michael Paye and Steve Serio will not be there on said day, as they have commitments with their national team early in January. But before RSV will go into their well-deserved Christmas-break they’ll be hosting the DRS-cup quarter finals where they will welcome league-competition BG Baskets Hamburg.
Heidelberg: André Hopp (21/1 Dreier), Leon-Ole Schoeneberg (16), Nico Dreimueller (11/1), Thomas Gumpert (3), Viktor Hammerschmidt (3), Kai Frank (2), Johannes Ernst, Christian Gumpert, Benjamin Scherke, Stefanie Wilke (n.e.).
Lahn-Dill: Michael Paye (32), Thomas Boehme (17/1), Steve Serio (12), Joe Bestwick (10), Jan Haller (10), Dirk Koehler (8), Christopher Huber (3/1), Felix Schell (2), Marco Zwerger (2), Annabel Breuer, Bjoern Lohmann.