BHC does not break the 30-point mark

The game was basically immaterial as far as the table standings were concerned. Nevertheless, around 50 fans braved the soaring temperatures to accompany their Bergische Lions to the final game of the season at SG BBM Bietigheim with the aim of breaking the 30-point mark together. However, the decimated Lions came away from Baden-Württemberg with a 25:32 (14:20) defeat.

Benjamin Meschke opened the scoring, and then Arnor Gunnarsson converted his seven-meter penalty to make it 3:2 for the BHC after five minutes. The crowd in the beautiful, but rather sparsely filled EgeTrans Arena saw a lively game. Bietigheim capitalized on three seven-meter penalties in the first six minutes to tie the encounter at 4:4. After Fabian Gutbrod missed his shot, the home side went ahead for the first time in the eighth minute (5:4) and extended the gap to 6:4 in the 9th through Jonathan Scholz’ fourth goal. However, Gutbrod cut the deficit immediately (6:5). When Scholz then stretched the lead to 8:5 in the 12th minute, the first timeout by the BHC was overdue. Yet it was to no avail. Scholz increased the gap to 10:6 in the 14th minute with his fifth seven-meter penalty. In particular, the BHC failed to come to terms with the agile Scholz. He chalked up his ninth goal – what else but a seven-meter penalty? – to put his side 14:9 ahead in the 21st minute. Arnor Gunnarsson reduced the deficit to 10:15 in the 24th minute. Subsequent penalties meant that Bietigheim was two men short, a spell which Nippes capitalized on (16:11 in the 25th minute), but the home side remained the more active team. After 27 minutes, Scholz celebrated his tenth (!) goal (18:13). The teams went in at half-time with the score at 20:14.

After the break, both sides suffered a goal drought. Fabian Gutbrod made it 16:21 after 35 minutes. Head Coach Sebastian Hinze put Nils Artmann in an advanced position in defense, but that helped little. On the contrary: Bietigheim pulled away to 23:16 in the 38th minute through the outstanding Scholz. The SG did not produce sparkling play, but uncompromisingly exploited the BHC’s weaknesses. The game was as good as over at 26:18 in the 41st minute. Gunnarsson and Jan Artmann reduced the gap to 20:26 in the 43rd minute to kindle hopes again among the fans who had made the journey, especially since Björgvin Pall Gustavsson now had his best spell between the BHC’s posts. Gunnarsson converted a seven-meter penalty (26:21 in the 47th minute). Shortly afterwards, his compatriot Gustavsson stopped Scholz a second time from the crease. With nine minutes left, the BHC was suddenly trailing by just four goals (22:26). Meschke missed the great chance to increase the pressure further in the 52nd minute and Lohrbach capitalized on that to make it 28:23 in the 53rd. The BHC improved after the break, but the SG played out the game. Hinze sent an additional field player on court when his team was short-handed, but the relegated team produced a counterattack to make it 30:24 in the 56th minute. The game was over. Hoße put a better complexion on the score (30:25 in the 58th) and the Lions ended up losing by a margin of seven goals.