Wetzlar’s 2nd team beats Ulm 75:48 – newbies Schell and Hengst score 21 points each
RSV Lahn-Dill II had a great comeback after their almost-relegation from the second division. The team surrounding top scorers Johannes Hengst and Felix Schell (21 points each) beat Sabres Ulm 75:48 (12:9/33:27/53:38), and were therefore able to have their revenge for the bitter home-defeat half a year ago, which should have kicked the Middle Hesse team out of the second league.
The game started off nervously on both sides, and RSV II had their difficulties with the well-prepared Swabians. It took nearly ten minutes to get their first lead of the game, scored by Johannes Hengst (10:09, 10th min), but they were able to extend the lead to 12:9 before the end of the first quarter.
Six points by opposition player Thorsten Schmid turned the game around again, and the Wetzlar team had to chase the lead again (14:16, 12th min). The 21:24 (16th min) -Schmid, again- seemed to slowly wake the newly formed RSV team up. Felix Schell shortened the gap, Hengst evened the score, and then topped the whole thing off with a successful three-point-play (27:24, 18th min).
Sabres‘ player-coach was able to tie again, but before half-time RSV Lahn-Dill II had a 6:0-run, which let them go into the break with a score of 33:27.
The team returned from half-time with a lot more pressure: they seemed a lot more organised in their defence, and especially upped their offence. At 43:32 by Hengst (24th min), RSV II had reached their first double-digit lead. In the following Coach Daniel Stange had plenty of opportunity to try different line-ups. “In the second half we were a lot stronger, and despite a lot of changes on court there was no dip in the game – that makes me very happy, even though the start could have been a lot better.” praised Stage his team, finishing the game with a 75:48-lead.