
pic credit: Martin Jung
Kelvin Omojola (183-G-1997, college: Northwest) is a 28year old 183cm point guard that completed his fourth professional season and fourth in Germany and second with the Dragons Rhondorf avergaing 9/3/3. Last season he helped them win the pro B title last season averaging 12.7ppg, 3.1rpg, Assists-2 (6.1apg), 1.6spg, FGP: 49.4%, 3PT: 30.5%, FT: 79.5%. In 2022-2023 he played with PS Karlsruhe (Pro A) averaging 3,1ppg and as a rookie played with the Ahorn Camp BIS Baskets Speyer (Germany-ProB) averaging 15.3ppg, 2.7rpg, 3.3apg, 1.7spg, FGP: 43.4%, 3PT: 37.3%, FT: 71.8%. He began his basketball career at Green Valley high school and then played at Red Deer (JUCO), Benedict College (NCAA2) averaging 9.1ppg, 2.1rpg, 1.2apg, 1.0spg, FGP: 38.6%, 3PT: 33.0%, FT: 66.7% and Northwest University (NAIA) averaging 7.4ppg, 1.9rpg, 1.7apg, FGP: 36.4%, 3PT: 36.1%, FT: 62.1% and 13.7ppg, 4.7rpg, 3.2apg, 1.3spg, FGP: 55.4%, 3PT: 54.2%, FT: 87.5%. He spoke to germanhoops.com after the game 2 loss to the Bayer Giants Leverkusen ending the season.
Thanks Kelvin for talking togermanhoops.com. The Dragons Rhondorf suffered a tough 73-62 loss to Leverkusen to end the season. How tough was it for you not participating?
Hey Miles, great talking to you as always. Yeah it was extremely tough not being out there. Playoffs is by far the best time of the season and it sucks to miss the best time of the year.
Do you feel like you could have been the difference especially in game 2 to tie series?
I feel like I could have Miles. We competed the entire game and gave it our best effort. It’s tough to win any game without your entire roster, let alone when you’re playing a great team like Leverkusen.
The second quarter was incredible. What was it like for you on the bench watching? I can imagine you never sat in the second quarter?
It was amazing Miles, the guys were playing lockdown defense and the intensity was at an all time high! The Dragon Dome had amazing energy and it was amazing to watch.
It was the best defensive quarter of the season. What was it defensively besides the flying around?
We were extremely active and on a string with each other! Our defensive rotations were on point and we were always 1 step ahead.
It was more than flying around wasn’t it? Did every Dragon have their own space ship?
Yeah Miles we were playing defense as a TEAM. When 5 guys are on the same page, the sky is the limit. But if you even have 1 person that’s not on point defensively, it will hurt the team’s defense.
What did head coach Marko Zarkovic tell the team at half-time to do for the second half?
Just to continue the good fight and effort. Keep playing with the energy and intensity we displayed in the 2nd quarter, and try to replicate that for 20 more minutes.
In the third quarter came the dreaded 18-0 run. How tough was it to watch that? Why wasn’t the defense working on Dennis Heinzmann anymore? He scored 5 buckets in the third quarter?
Terrible Miles. It hurt to watch, especially after just watching that performance in the 2nd quarter. Heinzmann is a big body and Leverkusen makes it a point of emphasis to try and get him the ball every single possession. Especially with us being an undersized team, it’s a team effort to defend someone like him and if we’re not together defensively, it’s impossible.
Leverkusen didn’t really defend any better, except maybe being more aggressive. It was more on the Dragons? Why did it seem like the Dragons was a bit half hearted? Did the team lose faith in their abilities?
It was definitely on us Miles, we were getting great looks offensively and just didn’t hit them. You can’t ask for anything more. When the ball isn’t going in it can’t affect your defense but when we weren’t scoring, it affected ours.
The Dragons never gave up and trailed only by 3 points after 3 quarters. Did Leverkusen wear down the Dragons in the fourth quarter?
Yeah, they’re a tough team to defend for 40 minutes. It’s a reason why they’ve only lost 1 game all year. They’re extremely disciplined, have great bench depth, 2 bigs, and everyone knows their role.
Still the Dragons gave all they had in their last home game. How proud were you of the team and how they played?
I was extremely proud of that last game Miles, we competed and fought until the final buzzer. I wish we could have came away with the W, but you can’t ask for anything more.
Thanks Kelvin for the chat.