75:55 success in the first game of the semi final series
Title-defendants RSV Lahn-Dill set the first stepping stones for their path to a successful playoff semi final series with their 75:55 (20:14/37:28/54:40) win against Doneck Dolphins Trier. Captain Michael Paye was the guarantee his team’s success, and got his team the 1:0 in this best-of-three series. So now the Middle Hesse team is in a great position for the second and potentially third game of the series, when Trier will come to Wetzlar on the 19th of March. "Today’s game was a fast one, and it took some time for us to get ahead and in control." said RSV-Head Coach Nicolai Zeltinger after the intense 40 minutes, which showed very clearly why the Dolphins got into the third spot this year.
Especially Latvian Diana Dadzite had a great day, scoring high percentages from every position. Trier’s usual top scorer wasn’t as lucky, as the RSV defence got a strong hold on him, which meant he was only able to score eight points as opposed to his average of 34 points. The game was tough and emotional from the start, and until the 12:10 (6th min) the lead was going back and forth between both teams. From then onwards though, RSV were able to keep their high percentage up, and thanks to Captain Michael Paye the score was changed to 18:12 (9th min), and then 25:16 (13th min). But not even the 33:21 (18th min) meant that the Middle Hesse team were on their way to a win, as Dadzite proved to them shortly after with the first of two threes. The guests continued strong after changeover, and it took until the 42:28 (22nd min), before Dolphins‘ top scorer Passiwan managed to score from the court. Even though he got better into his offensive play, RSV had already moved on and went via 51:34 (26th min) to 58:44 (32nd min), controlling the game and fighting off the hosting team successfully.
Steve Serio and Joe Bestwick were now in best playing-mood, getting a lot of fastbreaks for the former and good shooting positions for the latter. Thomas Boehme on the other hand was still noticeably weakened by his gastro-intestinal sickness. "I’m glad that we have Tommy back in the starting five after him being ill." Zeltinger was very happy to have him back regardless. The next three by Dadzite, leading to 60:49 (34th min), did not change anything, as the guests were performing great from the free-throw-line as well. Bestwick, Boehme, and Serio scored ten out of ten free throws in the final phase of the game and got the well deserved 75:55 win against a strong opposition.
Trier: Diana Dadzite (31/2 Dreier), Mattijs Bellers (8), Dirk Passiwan (8), Edgaras Chiaplinskas (4), Tracey Ferguson (2), Frank de Jong (2), Martin Koltes, Valeska Finger (n.e.).
Lahn-Dill: Michael Paye (30/1), Steve Serio (21), Joe Bestwick (15), Thomas Böhme (5), Dirk Köhler (2), Felix Schell (2), Annabel Breuer, Nico Dreimüller, Jan Haller, Christopher Huber, Björn Lohmann.