One often says it seems like it was yesterday, but when one looks back and thinks about the easyCredit BBL battles between the Fraport Skyliners and Gartenzaun24 Baskets, it really seems like it was ages ago. The last time these 2 clubs battled against each other in the BBL, it had been in Quantez Robertson´s rookie season while some of his teammates included legends Pascal Roller and Derrick Allen. Now 14 seasons later, the 2 organizations met again, but in the second league called Pro A. The Fraport Skyliners want to get back to the easyCredit BBL as rapidly as possible and began well at 2-0 while Paderborn started 1-1. Quantez Robertson may be gone, but one player is still around from the BBL glory days and that is Steve Esterkamp who has coached the team for years now. The clubs met on a cool Sunday afternoon as Autum had landed and the Fraport Skyliners performed an incredible almost crazy like first half offensive show that pretty much decided the game after 20 minutes as the Gartenzaun24 Baskets were miles away and got trampled badly 95-56. Frankfurt led by 58-19 at the break and finally gave the fans an offensive explosion something that had been missing the last 2 years as they were in the cellar of the BBL. Having an almost perfect half is somethings seldom seen. “I had a few halves like this. In the 2023 title game at Carleton, I had something like 18 points at the break and last season in pre season I had 18 points. Everything was working for us and me”, smilied Fraport Skyliner guard Aiden Warnholtz (188-G-2000, college: Carleton). It was only understandable that Frankfurt couldn´t duplicate the first half in the second half, but still scored 38 points while Paderborn improved from 19 points to 36 points. “We hit a lot in the first half and defended well not giving them easy shots. We slipped a bit in the third quarter and weren´t as sharp. You naturally slow down when your leading by so much. But good teams take an opportunity like that to form good habits and take the game as if it were 0-0. You try to get better and that is what we tried”, warned Aiden Warnholtz. Paderborn got in a hole early and never recovered even if they did improve their play and played Frankfurt 37-37 in the second half. “Frankfurt is a really good team. We let them dictate how we should play. We didn´t move the ball well or take care of the ball well. Being down by 39 points is simply absurd. If we had played in the first half the way we did in the second half, it would have been a tighter game. When we paly the way we know how then we can play with anyone. We played better in the second half, but there is still room for improvement. I´m proud how we didn´t let the game become embarrassing. It was one of those days where the basket looked 3 times bigger for Frankfurt”, stressed Paderborn center Julian Roche.

Julian Roche at the FT line

The Fraport Skyliners began their offense and just took it play by play and executed beautifully and before anybody really knew it, it was 13-0 for the home team. Ex Indiana State guard Cameron Henry began with a lay in which was followed by a Warnholtz lay in on transition. Then it was time for ex Augsburg (NCAA3) scoring sensation Booker Coplin to drop back to back three´s. Veteran Marco Voeller who was teammates with Robin Benzing more than a decade ago in Langen hit the next three pointer and suddenly it was truly raining three´s in Frankfurt. In between the Fraport Skyliners had come to play on the defensive end producing 6 stops with aggressive defense where they didn´t allow much room for the opponent which resulted in 3 turnovers. The guests finally got on the board at the 6,02 minute mark as ex easyCredit BBL player Lars Lagerpusch who has 71 BBL games on his record made a lay in. With every new bucket, the self-confidence rose with Frankfurt as Warnholtz added 5 points in a row with a nifty reverse lay up and three pointer and Coplin hit his third trey of the quarter as Frankfurt led 21-4. Canadian Julian Roche found some daylight and didn´t leave the first quarter like a total joke as he added 5 points. Frankfurt also got free throws from Alvin Onyia who has 8 BBL games on his record and Canadian David Muenkat as the Fraport Skyliners led comfortably 28-12. After 10 minutes. The shooting percentage of Frankfurt was insane as they shot 82% from the field and 100% from outside. One has to wonder if Frankfurt got the ultimate breakfast for champions? “I don´t know what was up, but maybe Frankfurt got some secret juice to drink. Booker hit 2 three´s and then everyone felt like they could hit shots. Those three´s got the team going. I felt like we had the better individual players then them and we did get 3 good days of preparation”, stressed Fraport Skyliner Felix Hecker. The Gartenzaun24 Baskets Paderborn shot a poor 38% from the field and 25% from outside while Frankfurt had 4 rebounds and 4 turnovers while the guests grabbed 6 rebounds, but coughed up the ball 9 times.

Alvin Oniya at the FT line

Nothing changed in the second quarter as the Fraport Skyliners continued to execute at a high rate and saw the hole as the ocean as shots were falling and falling. Young German Justin Onyejiaka who played his first game after injury nailed a trey for the 31-12 advantage as he would continue to impress in the second half. Frankfurt didn´t lose any of their defensive intensity as they made 5 stops and added a lay in from David Muenkat for the 33-12 lead. Paderborn was playing too much 1-1 and just couldn´t match the impressive team mentality that Frankfurt showed. Ex Rollins (NCAA2) scorer Hutton Yenor finally got the guests on the board with a tap in at the 6,45 minute mark. The Fraport Skyliners had no offensive lapses as their onslaught continued with a lethal 14-2 run to extend their lead to 47-16 advantage. Warnholtz continued to be a powerful scorer adding 2 three´s and a turnaround shot as he was still perfect on the evening and the club also got lay in´s from German Jordan Samare, David Muenkat and Booker Coplin with the perfect bullet pass from Henry on the back door cut. Frankfurt heightened their defensive intensity in the second quarter giving Paderborn nothing easy with aggressive man defense and clogging of the paint area as there was really nowhere to go. Frankfurt only allowed 7 points as their defense was simply spot on. They closed on the second quarter with another three as Coplin scored and Samare and Muenkat also scored in the paint as there was little resistance by the guests. “We took our great play from the first quarter into the second quarter and played even better defense. The self-confidence continues to grow and more crazy shots are made. We did a good job switching on the smaller guys. The only little negative thing was a few offensive rebounds given up, but other than that, it was another very strong quarter”, stated Felix Hecker. The Fraport Skyliners continued to shoot out the lights at 77% from the field and 91% from the three point line and they had 15 rebounds and 7 turnovers while Gartenzaun24 Baskets Paderborn shot 27% from the field and 14% from the three point line and 11 rebounds and 14 turnovers.

Booker Coplin from outside

It was obvious it would be very difficult to continue to shoot out the lights and the guests also got better actually winning the third quarter 20-18. Frankfurt continued to defend with passion and high intensity, but offensively they only got 4 points out of 5 stopped possessions of Paderborn to begin the second half. Frankfurt took some tempo out of the game and now it was all about managing the lead the best they could. Justin Onyejaika continued to get extensive minutes and did a great job with shot selection and execution. He made a pretty coast to coast run and lay up while Aiden Warnholtz a lay in and free throw for the 70-24 lead. But Paderborn could only be so bad for so long and finally got some offense going closing out the third quarter with a positive 16-6 run to trail 76-39 after 30 minutes. With improved ball movement and some less defensive intensity by Frankfurt led to less contested shots and better execution. Julian Roche was aggressive and often was put into good position to score as he produced 8 points. Yenor made another bucket and ex Giessen guard Lucas Mayer also scored on transition. Frankfurt got little offense going except for Onjejaika continuing to execute as he scored 5 points. “They won the third quarter. We had less urgency and allowed them to execute easier. They got to the foul line more and had shots fall”, added Aiden Warnholtz. “We did a better job moving the ball and got stops and rebounds. We took the opportunity to work on things and try to get better”, added Julian Roche. The shooting percentages continued to dip for the Fraport Skyliners as they shot 59% from the field and 55% from the parking lot and had 27 rebounds and 13 turnovers while Gartenzaun24 Baskets Paderborn shot 32% from the field and 20% form the parking lot and had 17 rebounds and 19 turnovers.

Lars Lagerpusch at the FT line

In the fourth quarter the big lead of the Fraport Skyliners didn´t get more or less as both teams executed their offenses well as Frankfurt won the last quarter 19-17. Justin Onyejaika began the fourth quarter off with a massive bang as he leaped up and threw down a high alley op pass from Cameron Henry for the 78-41 lead. “I was on the bench and saw the play being drawn up. I thought the pass thrown by Cam may have been too high, but somehow Justin got up there. I knew he could jump. It was fun to watch”, said Aiden Warnholtz. Onyejaika continued to score in the paint area. He finished with an incredible game of 21 points in 18 minutes. “Justin had a good game. He brings a lot of energy. He is super athletic and more skilled than what I first thought. He has good passing qualities and plays aggressive”, warned Aiden Warnholtz. The Paderborn offense had better ball movement and that was due to the solid playmaking by Lucas Mayer who finished with 7 points and 8 dimes. “I have a lot of respect for him. He leads us well. He keeps his head down and is a hard worker. He had a few turnovers in the first half where he had the right idea but it was wrong timing. It is still early in the season, but I have no doubt that he will continue to help us”, warned Julian Roche. Mayer made a beautiful finger tip lay in, block and set up guys like Hutton Yenor and California native Zach Chappel for three pointers. Aiden Warnholtz´s last basket was a lay in and with so much scoring having happened, it never occurred to me that he had had a perfect shooting day with 8/8 from the field and 5/5 from the free throw line. “I don´t think that I did anything different than in the first games. I had shots that fell today. I have games where shots don´t fall. I put in a lot of work and I´m not worried when I have a few games where shots aren´t falling. It was nice to see them fall today”, expressed Aiden Warnholtz. German Jacon Knauf also got into the scoring fun making a massive put back dunk and 20 footer from the wing. Hutton Yenor scored the last bucket of the contest. “They mix ed up the zone on is, but I still think that we did a decent job getting good shots. We made good adjustments and pushed the ball when we needed to”, commented Aiden Warnholtz. “I felt we played a good fourth quarter and could leave Frankfurt on a positive note. One of my old coaches always said that it is never as bad as it seems. We will watch film and learn from it”, stated Julian Roche. The Fraport Skyliners were led by Aiden Warnholtz with 24 points. Justin Onyejaika had 21 points while Booker Coplin chipped in with 19 points. Gartenzaun24 Baskets were led by Julian Roche with 17 points while Hutton Yenor had 13 points. The Fraport Skyliners shot 55% from the field and 54% from outside and had 38 rebounds and 16 turnovers while Gartenzaun24 Baskets Paderborn shot 31% from the field and 22% from outside and had 26 rebounds and 22 turnovers.