In the last few days the sporting world witnessed the loud ferocious home arena of Lithuania dashing the German basketball dreams of reaching the 2012 Olympics in London in a do or Dirk game, an unforgettable 2012 US open tennis final as Novak Djokovic finally was able to win in his third New York final against Spanish pitbull Rafael Nadal or Tom Brady showing once again how cool and dangerous he can be like Joe Montana was in Super bowls, Larry Bird making big plays and clutch shots or David Ortiz having a knack for the timely Big papi clutch hits as he passed for 517 yards in a 38-24 win against the Miami Dolphins, so the Fraport Skyliners didn´t have it easy with that stiff competition of the last days sports perfomances in the world showing the 20-30 fans who had come to witness a special preseason Hessen Derby against the Giessen 46ers an outstanding performance dominating the game from the get go crushing them 92-67. “I had seen the highlights from those games and something like that always puts you in the right mentality and motivation to want to step on the floor and stand out and create something memorable for the fans”, stressed Fraport Skyliner point guard Michael Thompson.

The great performance of Marius Nolte might have overshadowed the German debut of Michael Thompson who is known as the juice, but was christened with the famous kool-Aid name to the juice. Thompson wanted to do like the Kool-Aid man in the famous commercials and burst through the wall with his famous chant Oh yeah and impress the fans, but with his shot not falling so much, he had to do it in other ways. “I didn´t do a good job knocking down shots. My teammates found me well getting me good shots though. Instead I did a good job giving the ball to my teammates. I am a playmaker and that is why I am in Frankfurt. I didn´t break through the wall with my shot, but with my passing. I drink Kool-Aid all the time and that is a great name for me”, joked Michael Thompson. Even though Skyliner three point specialist Justin Gray was ready to enter the music world playing with his headphones heading to the team bus, he was very alert as he heard the favorite American juice. “They sell Kool-Aid In Germany?”, asked Justin Gray. “Thompson is a quick point guard. I think he did a decent job”, expressed Giessen 46er guard Wayne Bernard.

The Fraport Skyliners exited the Osthalle with extending their preseason record to 5-1, while the Giessen 46ers move to 2-2. It was evident after 40 minutes that the Fraport Skyliners were a lot farther as a team on offensive and defensive sets than were the Giessen 46ers. The Giessen 46ers used the game to concentrate 100% on their game and didn´t concentrate at all on the Fraport Skyliners and in a way it showed on the court as the team from the main could do what they wanted on offense all night long. “We didn´t have any concentration on the court. We were unable to play against their zone and zone press and giving up 56 points at halftime isn´t acceptable. We weren´t aggressive and had no intensity on the court. Mathias Perl and our NBBL player Dominic Turudic played the hardest from our team”, stressed Giessen 46er head coach Bjoern Harmsen. The Fraport Skyliner offense was working like a clock work and the team displayed astronomic shooting percentages all night long and their defense continues to improve in the last weeks. “We came out and executed well on defense right from the start and held it through out the game. We also rebounded well and did a good job getting the ball out quickly in transition. But all in all, I was very impressed how well we played defense”, added Michael Thompson. But it was also the offense which was impressive as they ran up the score board for 92 points. “We have many new players and are getting used to the new defensive principles. We weren´t aggressive and our help side and rotations weren´t good”, added ex MBC guard Wayne Bernard.

The Fraport Skyliners got off to a quick 7-2 lead as they showed fast that there would be no one man show by Justin Gray, but that the ball would be shared. Marius Nolte started off the scoring with a lay in off a sweet Gray feed which was followed by a Jon Leuer lay in and a Gray three pointer. Once the Fraport Skyliners offense got started it kept surging as Jon Leuer hit two more mid distance jumpers as Frankfurt led 13-6. Leuer makes everything look so easy and it seems like he might have been in a 90 c sauna, but never sweat. The Giessen 46ers showed little agressiveness on defense and on offense weren´t getting good shots and forced a  lot. Nolte continued to score easy baskets inside as he was being fed from Gray or Thompson as Frankfurt led 17-9. 26 year Serb old try-out player Vladimir Mijovic did what he could to show head coach Bjoern Harmsen that he wants to stay in Giessen scoring inside sneaking past the Skyliners on the transition and scoring and dropping  a three pointer. Quantez Robertson also got into the scoring action showing what he does best with athletic skill and defense. He scored twice inside as the Fraport Sklyiners had the comfortable 23-14 lead after one quarter. The Fraport Skyliners were shooting a crazy 67% from the field and 50% from outside and the Giessen 46ers were shooting a meager 33% from the field and 29% from outside. Frankfurt had the 9-6 rebound edge and two turnovers while the Giessen 46ers had three turnovers.

In the second quarter, The Fraport Skyliners seemed to shift up two more gears as they jumped on the Giessen 46ers with a 7-3 run as Jon Leuer who has some resemblance to Ferris Bueller who skipped school for a day to have fun as he went to work scoring a three pointer and showing his beautiful strut to the rim scoring inside as the Fraport Skyliners led 30-17. Robert Oehle then made one free throw, but the Fraport Skyliners then exploded for a 17-0 run to put the game out of reach for the Giessen 46ers as they led 47-18. German Fabian Franke started the offensive burst with 5 consecutive points with a fade away jumper and a three pointer as the Fraport Skyliners led 35-18 and Bjoern Harmsen took a time out. As the teams went back on the court, it was the turn of Marius Nolte to show that he does in deed seem to get better with age as he scored 8 of the next 10 Skyliner points as Frankfurt led 47-18. He scored inside four times and the blind understanding between Nolte/Gray is simply incredible at this juncture of the pre season. “I guess I get better with age like good wine”, joked Fraport Skyliner center Marius Nolte. The Fraport Skyliners were able to keep their comfortable lead down the stretch as Justin Gray nailed a three pointer and Quantez Robertson scored inside as it was Marius”I can sub for point guard if you want” Nolte who was credited with both assists. Young German Mathias Perl ended the second quarter with a slick cross over by Justin gray and setting up 35 year Elvir Ovcina for the bucket. The Fraport Skyliners led 56-25 at halftime. “Speed is important in our game and we showed that in our 17-0 run”, stressed Marius Nolte. The Fraport Skyliners were shooting an amazing 71% from the field and 67% from the three point line while The Giessen 46ers were shooting a inferior 29% from the field and 18% from the three point line. Frankfurt had the 20-11 rebound edge and four turnovers while The Giessen 46ers had seven turnovers.

The Giessen 46ers started off well in the third quarter with a 6-2 run to cut the Fraport Skyliner lead to 58-31 as Americans Wayne Bernard and 2001 NBA Draft pick Maurice Jeffers sunk two three pointers. Fraport Skyliner head coach Muli katzurin inserted ex USC Heidelberg forward Danilo Barthel who got valuable playing time even getting a bucket. Giessen continued to be inconsistent on offense and had problems in the offense without Ovcina on the floor. When he returned, he was able to help with two jumpers cutting the Sklyiner lead to 64-36. Giessen then had a positive stretch going on a 7-2 run cutting the Sklyiner lead down to 66-43. Bozo Djurasovic scored inside and Mathias Perl drowned a three pointer, but missed free throws was a cramp in the come back. Ex Paderborn Basket Robert Oehle who played together with Marius Nolte some years back shone getting to the free throw line and scoring inside twice, but Giessen was still trailing 73-50 after three quarters.  The Fraport Skyliners were shooting 63% from the field and 63% from the parking lot while the Giessen 46ers were shooting 38% from the field and 29% from the parking lot. Frankfurt still were winning the rebounding duel 25-19. The Giessen 46ers had 10 turnovers and the Fraport Skyliners nine turnovers.

The Fraport Skyliners were able to get their lead back over 30 points as they started hot in the fourth quarter going on a 9-0 run to lead 82-50. Frankfurt started off the fourth quarter in spectacular fashion as Justin Gray produced a half court ally-op pass to Justin Leuer for the Minnesota dunk. Nolte then was fed nicely by Thompson with a bounce pass inside and two quick points and then for the second time a Marius Nolte steal started a fast break which resulted in Gray making a tough bounce pass to Super Tez who was ahead of the pack for the basket. The Fraport Skyliners had done enough damage on this night and the Giessen 46ers finished the game solid ending the game with a 17-10 run. Frankfurt fans saw a sweet Quantez Robertson dunk and a Michael Thompson floater from the win who finally scored his first field goal of the game after showing his strength from the free throw line going 8/8. With two minutes remaining, the Fraport Skyliners ahd five Germans on the court and four PRO B players with Tim Oldenburg, Falko Theilig, Jan Novak, Benedikt Nikolay and Marius Nolte. The Giessen 46ers got some more buckets from Maurice Jeffers and Robert Oehle down the stretch, but the Fraport Skyliners were a few classes better on this day than the Giessen 46ers getting the well deserved 92-67 victory.

The Fraport Skyliners were led by Marius Nolte with 20 points, four rebounds and five assists. Justin Gray contributed 19 points, four rebounds and seven assists. Jon Leuer produced 18 points and eight rebounds. Quantez Robertson added 16 points and eight rebounds. The Giessen 46ers were led by Robert Oehle with 17 points. Elvir Ovcina produced 14 points and four assists. Maurice Jeffers added 11 points. The Fraport Skyliners finished the game shooting a whopping 61% from the field and 56% from downtown while the Giessen 46ers got their shooting up to a respectable 40% from the field and 26% from downtown. Frankfurt won the rebounding battle 31-24 and turnover race 15-12. The Fraport Skyliners showed a strong and determined effort despite not having German national players Joe Herber and Tim Ohlbrecht and Americans Jimmy Mckinney and ex NBA player Jermario Davidson. “We did good things tonight. It is important that we showed that we can give a good effort despite not having everyone on board. Our intensity was very good”, commented Marius Nolte. Giessen 46er Wayne Bernard didn´t have much to smile about after the game and was impressed by the Fraport Skyliners. “Frankfurt looked great. I am sure that they will have  a good season. They knew how to read our defense and played very good zone defense”, added Wayne Bernard. The Fraport Skyliners next play two test games against French team SIG STrassburg.