82:57-success against BG Baskets
Title-defendants RSV Lahn-Dill set their first mark against the opposition with a 82:57 (14:18/36:28/64:38) win against BG Baskets Hamburg. Captain Michael Paye, who has played awesomely, lead his team through a game that didn’t leave the opponents any chance, especially in the second and third quarter. The hosting team only managed to polish the result a little bit to their favour during the last quarter.
But first, the team had to have a little adjustment-phase to work with the highly motivated opponents, who were ahead 14:10 after only seven minutes, thanks to newbie Reo Fujimoto who scored ten points in that time.
“We had to change our defence after the first quarter.” Head-coach Nicolai Zeltinger describes what was in the end the key to success, as afterwards the team managed Hamburg’s most dangerous player very well. That way RSV went from 14:18 in the tenth minute via 36:28/64:38 to in the end 82:57. In this phase BG-coach Holger Glinicki tried every possible constellation to stop the Middle Hesse team, to no avail.
Quite the contrary, as RSV’s Steve Serio started the second half off with a three from past the 6,75 m line after only 33 seconds. Even though Hamburg’s second strong newcomer, Mustafa Korkmaz from Galatasaray, continuously found his way better into the game, RSV kept on dominating. And when Michael Paye downed two more threes within the last minute of this quarter, the quarter finished on 64:38.
In the final quarter it was national player Bjoern Lohmann, who pushed the score to 80:50 (36th min) with two points from the middle distance, before former RSV-player Gesche Schuenemann was able to polish the Hamburg-score a little bit with nine points for her team. “This was a good performance by us.” Coach Nicolai Zeltinger was happy after these 40 minutes at Sporthalle Wandsbek.
Special praise did not only go to top-scorer Michael Paye, but also Junior World Champion Thomas Boehme, British centre Joe Bestwick and national player Annabel Breuer for their effort. The big points-difference should also be a relief for the coach, as the team will probably have to make do without their two US-boys Paye and Serio, who will have a selection camp at that time.
Hamburg: Mustafa Korkmaz (17/1 Dreier), Reo Fujimoto (15), Hiroaki Kozai (10), Gesche Schuenemann (9), Robin Poggenwish (4), Annika Zeyen (2), Desiree Miller, Mareike Miller, Jan-Niklas Neuroth, Simone Kues (n.e.).
Lahn-Dill: Michael Paye (27/2), Thomas Böhme (22), Steve Serio (14/1), Joe Bestwick (11), Dirk Koehler (4), Annabel Breuer (2), Bjoern Lohmann (2), Jan Haller (n.e.), Christopher Huber (n.e.), Felix Schell (n.e.), Marco Zwerger (n.e.).