72:45 win against Trier means success in the semi finals series
Title-defendants RSV Lahn-Dill have won their ticket for the Playoff-Finals last Saturday in front of a home crowd, and now will be playing against RSV Thuringia Bulls. The deciding game against Doneck Dolphins Trier ended 72:45 (15:11/41:25/59:35), and this home-win meant 2:0 for RSV and also an early decision in this best-of-three series.
This second game of the semi-finals-series was their fifth meeting this season, and the same as the four times before it was the team from the Lahn that left the court as winners, setting themselves up for success with a great defensive performance, as they have done in the previous games.
Trier's infamous shooter Dirk Passiwan, who had already been limited in the first game, was able to score 16 points, but was not a deciding offence factor with 6 points until the 27th minute. At that point the game had already been pretty much decided, even though the guest from Rhineland-Palatinate did not let themselves get discouraged and played with high morale in their last game of this season.
Captain Michael Paye started the game off with three baskets within 90 seconds. The score went via 9:9 after a three by Latvian Diana Dadzite (7th min), and stayed pretty level far into the second quarter. But at 23:19 (15th min) through Passiwan, RSV kicked into gear and took hold of the game, especially in their offence.
In this phase this was especially down to Joe Bestwick, whose National Coach Haj Bhania flew in especially to watch him play. His strength in and his rebound-work set things straight under the basket. After a three-point-play and baskets number 2-4 by the British Centre meant a 14:0-run for the Wetzlar team, leading the score to 37:19 (18th min), which was only stopped by Dutch National Player Mattijs Bellers.
Fired up by their own performance before half time, RSV returned very focused from the changing rooms and seemed determined to win the game. Captain Paye, old dog Koehler and finally Felix Schell pushed the score to 51:25 (25th min) with another 10:0-run, which meant an early decision against their semi-final opposition.
Only now the beforehand excellent RSV-defence started to slack a bit, which Passiwan instantly took advantage of. Overall US-American Steve Serio was the key-player of the game, scoring 21 points, getting 12 rebounds and eight assists. When he left the court 1:45 minutes before the final siren, he left after a very strong performance.
"We played very solid today, but definitely have to up our game still for the finals series." said Head Coach Nicolai Zeltinger after the game, happy with his team but still not oblivious to the difficult tasks ahead. Lahn-Dill: Steve Serio (21), Joe Bestwick (16), Michael Paye (16), Thomas Böhme (8), Dirk Köhler (7), Felix Schell (4), Annabel Breuer, Nico Dreimüller, Jan Haller, Christopher Huber, Björn Lohmann, Marco Zwerger (n.e.).
Trier: Dirk Passiwan (16), Mattijs Bellers (12), Diana Dadzite (11/1 Dreier), Frank de Jong (4), Edgaras Chiaplinskas (2), Tracey Ferguson, Martin Koltes.