68:61 success against Thuringia Bulls in front of fantastic audience
The evening can be counted as a success of the category “nearly everything done right”, as the team did play world-class basketball after a mixed start, winning deservedly 68:61 (14:17/34:33/52:41). But sadly the word “nearly” has to be stressed, since despite the great lead the team still scraped past winning on points difference after losing against Thuringia 61:69 last autumn. So in a way everyone was able to feel as a winner at the same time as feeling as a loser. The Middle Hesse audience has once again proven that Wetzlar definitely is the German capital of wheelchair basketball with about 1.750 visitors creating a fantastic atmosphere for their team. The team themselves got a strong win against the unbeaten Team Thuringia Bulls, although the latter team just managed to keep the lead on points difference. The guests did find better into the game than the title-defendants, quickly leading 6:0 (2nd min) and later on 13:7 (7th min) after a three by a strong playing Raimund Beginskis.
It continued like this until 22:27 (14th min), before the hosting team had put themselves together after a second timeout and step by step regained control of the game. Two threes by US-guard Steve Serio moved the score to 30:33 (18th min), before Thomas Böhme scored the points that got RSV to leave the court for half time as the leading team. After changeover Captain Michael Paye and his team continued in the same manner. A 11:0-run, of which Böhme scored 9 points, lead to a 47:35 (27th min) score, with Paye and Serio being significantly involved with together 15 assists. 60 seconds later the guests saw themselves under threat of a painful defeat when the score was 52:37, but the hosting team didn’t manage to keep that score difference up. In this third quarter alone RSV gave their opposition room to score three times in a row, so that Thuringia Bulls were able to close the gap to 52:41 before the end of round three.
RSV were not only on the way to a win, but also were so close to the possibility of winning on direct points difference when the score was 62:50 (36th min). But now the missed points along the way should take revenge on them, especially playing against a team like Thüringen. Albrecht and Halouski, the latter of which so far kept well in place by the RSV defense, now took advantage of every opportunity they could get. At 62:57 (38th min) Thüringen had once again the lead in direct comparison. Now this high-class top game had developed into a fight to the finish. Two successful free-throws by Joe Bestwick 36 seconds before the end of the game meant the lead at 68:59, just before Teemu Partanen scored another two points for his team, whilst the last chance for RSV 2.2 seconds before the end of the game stayed unused. The fight was over, and both teams could at the same time feel like winners as well as losers.„We played a great game at Champions League level here“ said RSV Head Coach Nicolai Zeltinger after the game, which was again perfect advertising for the sport. “We were planning on playing for the win, without thinking about the direct comparison too early on.
Despite starting into the game nervously and without the necessary aggression, we still believed that we would be able to get back, and so we did, impressively. However, we’re sad we missed the lead by such a little bit, losing the home advantage for the possible finals. On the other hand we know that we still can and will improve.” said the 44-year-old, who did not forget to thank the fans for their amazing support: “I want to say thank you to each and every one of our fans for their fantastic support. The atmosphere was incredible, and definitely the best there is in Wheelchair Basketball.
Lahn-Dill: Thomas Böhme (26), Michael Paye (19), Steve Serio (14/2 Dreier), Joe Bestwick (6), Dirk Köhler (3), Annabel Breuer, Björn Lohmann, Nico Dreimüller (n.e.), Jan Haller (n.e.), Christopher Huber (n.e.), Felix Schell (n.e.).
Thüringen: Raimund Beginskis (16/1 ), André Bienek (16/1), Joakim Linden (10), Aliaksandr Halouski (9), Jens Eike Albrecht (4), Teemu Partanen (4), Dan Highcock (2), Venckus Nerijus, Marcus Kietzer (n.e.).