SC DHfK Leipzig narrowly defeats MT Melsungen

The Bundesliga handball team SC DHfK Leipzig suffered its first defeat in its fifth home game. The team of coach Runar Sigtryggsson lost 27:28 (14:13) to leaders MT Melsungen in front of 4,246 spectators on Thursday evening. National player Luca Witzke was SC DHfK's best scorer with seven goals and the team is now in tenth place with 8:8 points. Aaron Mensing scored eight times for Melsungen, who celebrated their seventh win in eight games. However, Erik Balenciaga was the match-winner, scoring the decisive goal with five seconds remaining.

Leipzig got off to the better start, but had to cope with the loss of Matej Klima after just six minutes. The Czech player twisted his ankle after his jump shot to make it 3:1 and was only able to leave the court with support. However, the home side did not allow this to make a lasting impression. They prevented Melsungen's quick transition play with their strong retreat and also benefited from an unusually high number of technical mistakes by the league leaders. SC DHfK developed a strong drive to score in attack and deservedly led 7:4 after 13 minutes, before the playful line was lost somewhat. Melsungen became stronger and equalized to make it 8:8 in the 20th minute. The tempo then picked up considerably. Leipzig regained the lead and was also ahead at the break.

The home side remained on course up to 20:19 in the 41st minute, but then Nebojsa Simic turned on the heat for Melsungen. The goalkeeper saved five Leipzig shots in succession to spark a 4:0 run by MT to make it 23:20 in the 49th minute. However, Leipzig did not give up and regained its penetrating power at the back. With 27 seconds left on the clock, Moritz Preuss rewarded SC DHfK's relentless run with a 27:27 equalizer before Melsungen scored with the last attack of the game to seal victory.