46:55-defeat against the Champions – despite defeat best result of the season
On this last game day of the second division of the Bundesliga RSV Lahn-Dill II missed a sensation only closely. The Middle Hesse team lost 46:55 (9:9/24:24/36:41) against the already decided top-of-the-table team in an exciting match.
“Kaiserslautern started surprisingly weak, which gave us the opportunity to get well into the game” said RSV-coach Daniel Stange after the game that saw a lot of chances under both baskets missed. “We have to stay realistic and see that 46 points against a top team like this one is not enough, even if this team has a bad start.”
RSV II had a good start into the game with 5:2 (4th min) before Kaiserslautern took their first time-out and then took off 7:0 within four minutes (9:5, 8th min). Two baskets by Kai Gerlach tied the first quarter, but the game went on the way it started. The hosting team repeatedly managed to get ahead, but RSV II had a response every time, to be seen in the 15th min at 11:18, when Gerlach scored two threes and got his team close again to 17:20 (17th min).
But in this phase it was already noticeable that the Middle Hesse team struggled to defend Kaiserslautern centre Sebastian Spitznagel, and after change-over league-top-scorer Mark Beissert played up to his abilities. At 30:39 (27th min) it looked like the Rolling Devils could just shoot off, but Kai Gerlach and David Amend held against them with all their power. Ten points by those two got RSV close again to 40:43 (31st min).
A 0:9-run ended all hopes for RSV (40:52, 36th min). Only in the end the Wetzlar team could polish the result a little bit to say good bye. With their third spot of the table RSV finish the league at their best since they joined the second division four years ago, so the disappointment did not hurt too much.
Kaiserslautern: Sebastian Spitznagel (23), Mark Beissert (21/1 Dreier), Matthias Heimbach (5), Pieter Dries (3), Sascha Gergele (3), Sedar Antac, Markus Gmeinwieser, Christian Kiefer, Juliana Kromberg, Heiko Lips, Paul Nikolaus, Klaus Wendel.
Lahn-Dill: Kai Gerlach (27/2), David Amend (11), Christopher Huber (4), Tristan Paar (4), Carsten Crombach, Waldemar Gerter, Barbara Groß, Marian Kind, Selina Rausch, Zacharias Wittmann.