After 76:54 against Hamburg next game against Thueringen
Two teams played an exciting game last Saturday, with RSV Lahn-Dill dominating BG Baskets Hamburg 76:54 (23:20/43:34/62:44). About 1.100 visitors came to see the team win their second game in this “bet-of-three”-series that meant an early ticket to the finals of the German Championship. This game will be against RSB Team Thueringen, who won 80:45 against Zwickau last weekend.
Hamburg had just won four games at the EuroLeague II in Vienna and therefore started with the necessary confidence, which they seemed to lack two weeks earlier when RSV defeated them at home. Hiroaki Kozai’s 4:6 (2nd min) was followed only fourty seconds later by Reo Fujimoto’s 7:8 (3rd min).
But RSV had two trump cards in their hands: the Boehme/Serio-duo and a lot of patience. Their peace was not to be disturbed by the Hamburg team, and especially US-American Steve Serio displayed a spotless performance with two threes and thirteen points within eight minutes, leading to 21:13.
But Hamburg played focused and with a lot of tactical discipline and so caught up quickly after the first quarter when Dutchman Korkmaz and Japanese Kozai scored two threes, moving the score to 23:22. This phase was the most attractive from the point of view of the spectators, as a lot of brilliant plays and situations arose.
Whilst RSV managed to keep the speed and level up, Hamburg seemed to be dipping in their performances. The second quarter was dominated by Thomas Boehme, being mainly responsible for the 38:24 (16th min) score. But this was also down to the reliability of his team, for example the support of Bjoern Lohmann: “Bjoern showed us today that he is one of the world’s best 1.0-pointers! His performance might not be obvious, but when you take a closer look you see the quality of his work.”
But even after change-over Hamburg were hard to leave behind, and came closer again at 47:40 (24th min). Hamburg had to make a lot of adaptions due to the high pace of the game, which cost them. After Serio scored the 50:40 (25th min) with his fourth three, the score went via 59:44 (29th min) to 72:48 (34th min) and demolished Hamburg’s hope.
“It’s always impressive to see the team find their focus and intensity from game to game. Patience was very important for our win today.” said Nicolai Zeltinger afterwards. Now RSV are preparing for their biggest opposition RSB Team Thueringen in the finals, starting away on the 11th or 12th of April before playing them again on the 18th and 19th of April in Wetzlar.
Lahn-Dill: Steve Serio (30/4 Dreier), Thomas Böhme (26), Michael Paye (11), Dirk Köhler (9), Joe Bestwick, Annabel Breuer, Jan Haller, Björn Lohmann, David Amend (n.e.), Christopher Huber (n.e.), Felix Schell (n.e.), Marco Zwerger (n.e.).
Hamburg: Hiroaki Kozai (17/1), Mustafa Korkmaz (13/1), Reo Fujimoto (16), Mareike Miller (2), Robin Poggenwisch (2), Desiree Miller, Jan-Niklas Neuroth, Gesche Schünemann, Annika Zeyen.