Sovereign 77:47 win to get into Final Four
Four away-wins in the DRS Cup last weekend, one of them for title-defendants RSV Lahn-Dill. The club will take part in the final four for the 19th time after their 77:47 (16:17/37:23/53:37) win against BSC Zwickau. Where the Final Four will take place on the 28th and 29th of March will be decided just before Christmas.
Despite their sovereign success in the end, the elven-fold team seemed to struggle getting into the game. “Zwickau were brilliantly prepared for us, whilst we didn’t seem to find our rhythm” praised Nicolai Zeltinger the opposition after the game. So the game stayed quite level for the first quarter, with three 6:0-runs and moving from 2:6 (3rd min), via 8:6 (5th min) and 8:12 (7th min) to 14:12 (9th min), Before the Saxons were able to get into the second quarter with a slight advance.
Only when the team made some changes on court and Joe Bestwick and Jan Haller came in, RSV seemed to get their stability. “Jan helped us a lot to crack the Zwickau defence with his dangerous throw from the middle-distance” Zeltinger complimented the 26-year-old after the game. After Zwickau’s top-scorer Adam Erben scoring the 19:16 (11th min) the second quarter became the strongest for RSV. Dirk Koehler evened out to 19:19 (12th min), before his team took off to 37:23 at half-time, ten points in a row added by Steve Serio.
But even after the break Zeltinger was still forced to make a lot of changes in his offence. The result was Zwickau catching up to 30:39 (22nd min) scored by National Player Kai Moeller. “Here, too, we didn’t have a great start” criticises the head coach. “We had to be very careful here, preventing the game from tipping in the wrong direction, something that can break your neck in a Cup game.” But more changes in the line-up helped and brought a better pace as opposed to a more physical game.
When Steve Serio, who scored 83 per cent in this game, scored the 45:30 (25th min), the Saxon’s will was broken, and when Briton Joe Bestwick then scored 11 points within 7 minutes, the game was done. Very good games for the opposition had Adam Erben and Bryce Doody, whilst for RSV Michael Paye got 10 assists and therefore a “double-double”.
RSV will now take part in the DRS Cup Final Four for the 19th time, meanwhile Zwickau have missed their opportunity for the third time in a row. RSV will be playing against RSB Team Thueringen, and the second Semi Final will take place between BG Baskets Hamburg and Goldmann Dolphins Trier.
Zwickau: Adam Erben (14), Bryce Doody (10), Kai Möller (7), Benjamin Kenyon (5), Rostislav Pohlmann (5), Matt Sealy (4), Günther Mayer (2), Daniel Gehse, Julia Kittlaus, Michal Polacek.
Lahn-Dill: Steve Serio (22), Michael Paye (21), Joe Bestwick (11), Jan Haller (8), Thomas Böhme (7), Björn Lohmann (4), Dirk Köhler (3), Felix Schell (1), Nico Dreimüller, Christopher Huber, Marco Zwerger.