RSV win away 70:44 against Roller Bulls St. Vith
As expected, RSV did have a tough piece of work to do last Saturday, before fulfilling their expectations in St. Vith as top of the table team. In the end they went home with a straining, but clear 70:44 (14:15/33:19/51:33) win, which secures their 6-point-buffer to their chasers.
“We started off quite heavy against, after three wins in a row, very confident opponents.” was the analysis of head coach Nicolai Zeltinger of this 12th game-day in the wheelchair basketball Bundesliga (RBBL). Despite an early score by Steve Serio (2:0, 20 sec) the team fell behind twice, ar 2:5 (3rd min) and 12:15 (9th min). The Belgian team from the Ardennes knew how to work their strengths, acted athletically well and in front of a home crowd of course passionately as well.
It was in the second quarter when RSV changed to an aggressive press-defence and they started to turn the game around. It was predominantly down to US-Americans Steve Serio and Michael Paye that the score was pushed up to 30:17 (18th min) before half-time. Both of them together were responsible for 21 out of thirty Wetzlar points. “Our changes enabled to us to get better control over St. Vith’s top-scorer Lorenzo Boterberg, who then was hardly passed the ball anymore.” says Zeltinger.
But the Roller Bulls did not give up after the break. Two free-throws by Jamaa Saadi led to 37:26 (23rd) and got the Belgians closer again, but neither Joe Bestwick (45:26 (26th min), nor Thomas Boehme and Dirk Koehler (57:32, 32nd min) would let that happen. The game continued the same way up until the highest difference in points, scored by Felix Schell leading to 66:37 (38th min), before Samir Bader managed to polish the score a little bit with a three.
“We kept the hosting team at 44 points,that surely is worth something.” was the positive conclusion of assistant coach Ralf Neumann. On the upcoming weekend RSV will be hosting playoff-candidates Dolphins Trier at August-Bebel-Sporthalle. RSV could qualify early for the playoffs in this game.
Roller Bulls: Samir Bader (10/1 Dreier), Lorenzo Boterberg (10), Mounir Moujoud (8), Jamaa Saadi (6), Arthur Fievet (4), Juan Bernal (4), Christoph Paasch (2), Ralph Huylebroek, Philippe Minten, Sandro Nicoll (n.e.), Stefan Veithen (n.e.).
Lahn-Dill: Steve Serio (24), Thomas Boehme (14), Joe Bestwick (11), Michael Paye (9), Dirk Koehler (4), Jan Haller (4), David Amend (2), Felix Schell (2), Annabel Breuer, Christopher Huber, Bjoern Lohmann, Marco Zwerger.