Kelvin Omojola

After the first Fiba break, it was time to play basketball in the Pro B south again. The Dragons Rhondorf and the mighty FC Bayern Munich had had 2 weeks to recuperate again and to tweak problems and develop new focus for the upcoming duels. Don´t let the Dragons Rhondorf potent 6-1 record fool anyone, because they have had an incredible knack of surviving winning already 3 games down to the wire. The question is how much longer can one´s fortune keep going and when will they finally find a defensive identity. Their offense is explosive, but allowing 91 games on average won´t get you many wins when the shooters have an off day. Rhondorf welcomed the solid 4-3 FC Bayern Munich a club that always brings the talented youngest players in Germany and this season have 2 real gems with Ivan Kharchenkov and Martin Kalu. Their strong offensive team gets incredible depth when you have a guy like 23 year old Dino Radoncic who played 167 ACB games and was teammates with Luka Doncic at Real Madrid. They are a team that can go off on any team and have had their moments defending this season. The Dragons Rhondorf had to be fully prepared for another battle in the always loud Dragon Dome and didn´t disappoint any of the fans showing an offensive explosion destroying FC Bayern Munich 2 while also showing improvement on defense using an imagery spiders web to annoy their opponent winning 102-78. Would it have surprised Dragons players if someone had predicted them scoring 100 points against Munich? “Not at all. We know what were capable of on offense. We always knew we can score it was all a matter about tightening up our defense. We worked on defense the last weeks working on filling the extra gaps, clogging the lanes more, being m ore attentive and playing with more energy. We were like a spiders web where everyone was helping each other out”, stated Dragons Rhondorf guard Kelvin Omojola. FC Bayern Munich played a solid first quarter, but after that just couldn´t match the intensity of Rhondorf and find a solution to slow down their offense. “We began with little energy. Then when your down by 15 points, it´s difficult to come back against a good team like them. They played a lot of transition which hurt us”, stressed FC Bayern Munich guard Ivan Kharchenkov.

Dino Radoncic at the FT line

The Dragons Rhondorf had Jekabs Beck and Tyrese Blunt back in action and stormed out of the gates on fire taking the quick 7-2 advantage. Ex Paderborn guard Badu Buck (195-SG-1999) added 5 points while ex Lamar (NCAA) big man Avery Sullivan added a lay in. But FC Bayern Munich woke up rapidly going on a 9-0 run as their 3 young stars Kharchenkov, Radoncic and Kalu scored for the 11-7 lead. Munich took advantage of their 3 stars individual qualities and also took care of the mis matches. Rhondorf was still finding their footing on the defensive end. That burst of offensive lightening didn´t rattle Rhondorf as they punched back going on a 7-0 run to lead 14-11. Young German Janne Muller continued his solid play scoring on transition and Badu Buck nailed a trey. Martin Kalu then tied the score at 14-14. For the next minutes both teams would trade baskets as Rhondorf got support from ex Coburg center Leon Bulic with a lay in and Omojola free throws for the 18-17 advantage. FC Bayern Munich retaliated and got a 3 point play from Kharchenkov for the 20-18 Munich lead. Rhondorf finished the first quarter strong with back to back dunks from Bulic and Sullivan to lead 24-20 after 10 minutes. Both teams were shooting well with FC Bayern Munich over 50% from the field and outside and Rhondorf over 40% while Munich had the 8-6 rebound edge, but coughed up the ball 8 times. ”We began strong. There were a lot of runs in the first quarter, but basketball is a game of runs. I felt we did a pretty good job not letting their top 3 players score too much”, stated Kelvin Omojola.

Antonio Pilipovic from outside

The turning point of the game occurred in the second quarter as The Dragons Rhondorf exploded for 31 points to lead 55-39 at the break. Both teams were executing their offense well as FC Bayern Munich stayed on track getting 5 points from Ivan Kharchenkov, but Rhondorf also produced three´s from Antonio Pilipovic and Buck and still led 34-25. Rhondorf was playing good team basketball while FC Bayern Munich was relying too much on their young stars and not sharing the love. Rhondorf was also slowly getting a defensive rhythm as their on ball pressure increased and deflections popped up more. FC Bayern Munich then got a clutch three pointer from little used Matteo Boerries to cut Rhondorf´s lead to 36-28. One thing Rhondorf was doing since tip off was play transition and getting many easy baskets. When young German Janne muller ran coast to coast for the easy bucket, Munich head coach Emir Mutapcic smiled giving that sense of how could we let a youth player do that too us. “Janne is a great player. You might think that about him, but he is a high level player in the eyes of his teammates. If I didn´t know him, I would never think that he was only 17. If you can play, you can play no matter how old you are”, commented Kelvin Omojola. Ex Real Madrid forward Dino Radoncic who averaged 7/5 at the last World Cup made a pretty spin move and finished with his left hand. “He has a great frame. He is a high level player and very athletic”, commented Kelvin Omojola. Rhondorf cruised out on a 8-1 run to lead 46-32. In the run, they displayed fine inside out basketball as Bulic and ex Bamberg guard Tyrese Blunt combined for 2 three´s and Omojola scored inside. The Dragons Rhondorf closed out the second quarter strong getting added baskets from ex Tuebingen forward Jekabs Beck and a trey by Blunt and lay in by Bulic for the comfortable 55-39 lead at half-time. The Dragons Rhondorf shot 51% from the field and 41% from the three point line and had 20 rebounds and 5 turnovers while FC Bayern Munich shot 50% from the field and 50% from the three point line and had 13 rebounds and 10 turnovers. “We broke out on offense. We tightened down our defense and were able to play our game. Defense leads to offense. And when were playing good defense then it´s only up from there”, warned Kelvin Omojola.

Ivan Kharchenkov at the FT line

In the third quarter the Dragons Rhondorf would continue to control the game despite some punches by the guests which were combated nicely by the Dragons. After Pilipovic began the second half with a trey, FC Bayern Munich came back with a 7-1 run sparked by Desmond Yiamu´s aggressive play on the offensive glass with a few offensive rebounds. German Ivan Volf added a trey and Radoncic a lay in to cut Rhondorf´s lead down to 59-46. “I like Dino´s mentality. He is stubborn, but has intelligent thoughts”, warned Ivan Kharchenkov. But whenever that FC Bayern Munich seemed like they were pressing Rhondorf, the home team had an answer and pushed back going on a 6-0 run to extend their lead to 65-46. Avery “the double double monster” Sullivan connected on back to back buckets and Bulic also scored on transition. FC Bayern Munich also found answers scoring 5 unanswered points as Volf hit another trey and German Marco Frank scored in the paint to trail only 65-50. But there was no stopping the Rhondorf offensive machine as Blunt dropped a trey and Omojola scored on the drive and all of a sudden Rhondorf was up big again at 70-50. A Kharchenkov three pointer and Radoncic lay in didn´t narrow the gap much as Rhondorf still led comfortably 74-56 after 30 minutes. “Despite starting off slowly with some offensive rebounds, our mentality was strong. Once we tightened up and stuck to our principles, we continued to play our game”, stated Kelvin Omojola. “We tried to come back and fought, but they defended very well and played too much transition that made us tired”, expressed Ivan Kharchenkov. The Dragons Rhondorf shot 51% from the field and 39% from the parking lot and had 29 rebounds and 9 turnovers while FC Bayern Munich shot 43% from the field and 33% from the parking lot and had 27 rebounds and 13 turnovers

Jekabs Beck at the FT line

In the fourth quarter nothing changed as the Dragons Rhondorf continued to score at ease and FC Bayern Munich was playing catch up while losing more and more energy as fatigue set in. After Buck and Kharchenkov traded three´s, little used German/Greek guard Nikolas Sermpezis made a lay in to cut the Dragons lead to 77-63. Then came a scary moment as Ivan Kharchenkov collided with the ref and fell to the ground and stayed there for a few moments. He got to his feet and wouldn´t return back to the game getting treatment on the bench. The Dragons Rhondorf then ultimately slammed the door shut on FC Bayern Munich going on a 11-2 run to lead 88-65. They let it rain three´s as Sullivan, Buck and Pilipovic connected. This phase truly looked like a relaxed Sunday stroll for Rhondorf as their offense looked like clock work. FC Bayern Munich had accepted defeat as many of the young Germans from the bench got garbage time. Three´s continued as Blunt and Matej Silic scored while Munich was getting excellent support from Volf who supplied 5 points, but Munich still trailed 96-74. Blunt scored with a lay in after getting the lightening bounce pass from Omojola. “I think Steph Curry has that pass in his game. I was working on my passing last summer. I would of made a risky pass like that even if we were up 2 points. If I feel it´s the right play then I will do it. It´s not about being flashy for me”, warned Kelvin Omopjola. After a Dominik Dolic three pointer, Jekabs Beck scored the 100th point and Blunt closed out the win with a lay in. “Scoring 100 points was good. You can´t complain. But what was more impressive was holding them to 78 points”, said Kelvin Omojola. “We tried to end the game as good as possible. They kept pushing the ball and were simply more aggressive then us”, said Martin Kalu. The Dragons Rhondorf has an incredible 7 players in double figures as Badu Buck added 17 points. Tyreese Blunt added 16 points and Avery Sullivan 15 points and 10 rebounds while FC Bayern Munich was led by Dino Radoncic with 21 points. Ivan Volf added 15 points and ivan Kharchekov had 14 points. The Dragons Rhondorf shot 53% from the field and 43% from outside and had 37 rebounds and 11 turnovers while FC Bayern Munich shot 44% from the field and 33% from outside and had 36 rebounds and 15 turnovers.