66:47-home win against Trier secures spot in the Playoff final
RSV Lahn-Dill will be in the playoff-final of the German Wheelchair Basketball championship 2014. In their second game of the best-of-three-series the title-defendants beat Goldmann Dolphins Trier 66:47 (24:13/35:24/46:33) and will now be play the best-of-three finals on the 5th, 12th and depending on the outcome of the first two games the 13th against rivals RSC-Rollis Zwickau, who won their third and deciding semi-final on Sunday in a close game, with 70:62 against RSB Team Thueringen.
Around 1.100 spectators came to the well-filled gym to see RSV take off with a 10:0-run within the first three minutes, forcing the opposition into an early time-out. They used the break to adjust better to a changed RSV line-up and found better into the game, especially their top-scorer Dirk Passiwan.
But RSV did not want to leave any room for neither Passiwan nor his strong team mates Karlis Podnieks and Diana Dadzite. Especially British European Champion Joe Bestwick had a great day playing in front of his parents, who especially travelled to Hesse from Lincoln, England. He repeatedly got great chances for his dangerous middle distance shots, which had hit the Trier basket five times already at 28:15 (12th min). The hosts were entertaining their audience well, Michael Paye scoring the 33:18 (16th min), before going into half-time 35:24.
The third quarter started similar to the first with RSV shooting off with a 6:0-run leading to 41:24 (22nd min), before the RSV defence went into a little dip. Two further baskets again by centre Joe Bestwick as well as a point from the free-throw-line were all RSV could manage until the end of the third quarter. However, as the team kept their defence up, Trier could not take advantage too much of the situation.
“It was another intense and physically exhausting game. Not always high-class, but fast, tense and exciting.” says coach Zeltinger in his analysis of the game that sped up noticeably in the fourth quarter. A three-point-play by Boehme led to 51:37 (32nd min) which initiated a final offence, pushing the scoreboard to 58:37 (36th min) and therefore an early decision, before national player Jan Haller scored three spotless baskets from the middle distance that meant the definite end for the Dolphins.
66:47 (24:13/35:24/46:33)