Important 71:59-success at top-game against Thuringia Bulls
The twelve-fold German Champions RSV Lahn-Dill have returned to the top of the German table after a deserved 71:59 (13:18/35:31/50:46) win at home against current German Champions Thuringia Bulls. The high-class game meant the first defeat for Thueringen since the 13th of February, and a slight advance for RSV Lahn-Dill.
Captain Michael Paye gave a strong performance with 16 points, seven rebounds and twelve assists, as well as topscorer Piotr Luszynski with 19 points and receiving 6 fouls. The success of the team was not down to just individual performances, but a tactical and rounded team effort where everyone pitched in their bit.
The game started off slow for RSV though, and it took them a while to get into gear. The Bulls took special care of Luszynski under the basket, keeping him from scoring. This left some room for the other centre, Phillip Hafeli, who took advantage of the situation and scored first the 4:6 (3rd min) and then the 6:8 (5th min). The Bulls kept their dominance for a bit, but after a three by Bienek (9:12, 7th min), the hosts seemed to have woken up. Boehme got the first RSV-lead at 13:12 (8th min), before Thuringia Bulls had a very confident 8:0-run, leading to the 13:20 (11th min) score.
But as previously mentioned, RSV had found their way through Thuringia’s walls already. Under a lot of cheering RSV turned the 15:23 (12th min) score into a 30:27 (18th min) within minutes. The game became intense; not only because of the constant close score but also the high number of fouls. Boehme got his third foul in the second quarter already, soon followed by Bienek in the 19th minute; and then they turned it around when Bienek got his 4th foul in the 22nd minute, followed by Boehme in the 24th.
The tension did not lessen after both strong players had left the court, and RSV managed to keep their small lead. Very much responsible for this was Joe Bestwick who had just come into the game, keeping the flow and scoring six points within two minutes. The Bulls did not yet give up though, proven by a three-point-play by Aliaksandr Halouski (58:55, 35th min). Hafeli, whose National Coach Nicolas Hausammann was present, Luszynski, and Paye kept their nerves, whilst the guests could not get through the RSV-defence and had to go home with a twelve points difference.
“It took us a few minutes to get into the game, but especially our defence was great today.” said RSV-Coach Zeltinger after the game. “The deciding factor here was that our bench was there, present, and kept the flow of the game.”
Strongest players for the guests, who showed a great performance as well, were Swede Joakim Linden and Center Halouski, scoring 14 and 13 points, respectively. Bienek’s offence wasn’t as strong as usually, but still lead the team very well. Overall RSV handled the foul-issue better than the guests though. Particularly good performances were shown by Luszynski and Paye, but also Hafeli, Bestwick and Dreimueller, and these combined meant that the fans were able to celebrate the table-lead with their team in the end.
Lahn-Dill: Piotr Luszynski (19), Michael Paye (16/1 Dreier), Thomas Böhme (12), Philipp Häfeli (9), Joe Bestwick (6), Nico Dreimüller (5/1), Dirk Köhler (4), Annabel Breuer, Jan Haller, Björn Lohmann, Christopher Huber (n.e.).
Thüringen: Alikasandr Halouski (14), Joakim Linden (13/1), Jens-Eike Albrecht (8), Raimund Beginskis (7/1), André Bienek (7/1), Vasily Kochetkov (6), Teemu Partanen (4), Vanessa Erskine, Benjamin Kenyon, Marcus Kietzer (n.e.), Marvin Malsy (n.e.).