It continues to be weeks of up and down play from the 3-6 Skyliners Juniors as they met the 3-6 Dresden Titans. The surprising aspect was that they had won their last 2 road games and had lost 2 nail bitters at home against BBL farm teams Munich and Ludwigsburg. The problem in both games was finishing games strong as they had lost their nerves in crunch-time. They had a must win situation against the Dresden Titans who were in the Pro B again after spending the last 3 seasons in the Pro A. Frankfurt had to be wide awake as Dresden came into the game having won 2 of their last 3 games after starting off very slow having lost their first 3 games of the season. The last time that Dresden played in Frankfurt in the Pro B was 3 seasons ago where they lost by 27 points which was only 1 of 3 loses the whole regular season. Back then there were 3 players with Sebastian Heck, Max Von Der Wippel and Georg Kupke on the floor that combined for 12 points. 3 years later 2 of the 3 were back in Frankfurt ready for battle. The Dresden Titans punched first and had the Skyliners Juniors reeling and facing an uphill battle right away and they were never able to get over the hump losing 80-63. Frankfurt saved their best defense for the last quarter allowing only 9 points, but couldn´t master that big 30 point quarter as they mustered only 13 points. Frankfurt had displayed severe problems against Ludwigsburg in terms of team togetherness and the problem continued against Dresden. “We didn´t come to play. We had some positive individual play, but not enough to win. We don´t play together and that holds us back. We have the talent to score and shoot, but if we don´t play together, we won´t win. We will come together, but every guy has got to want to do it”, stressed Skyliner Junior Leif Zengraf. The Dresden Titans played a great game as a team and had a game plan and finally had something this game that they didn´t have in the other games this season. “This was the first time this season where we had the whole core together. Our coach Valentin Lott does a great job adjusting in game. We played more side to side with back door cuts and play the traditional motion where we read the game really well. A young team like Frankfurt isn´t used to that. We played well defensively. We aren´t athletic, but we have a group of guys that really know the game. Our rebounding has really been key for us this season as well”, stressed Dresden Titan Scott Stone (193-G-1995, college: St.Cloud St.).

Ivan Crnjac from downtown

The Dresden Titans didn´t waste anytime jumping all over Frankfurt breaking out on a rapid 9-3 run. Minnesota native Scott Stone was in attack mode right away scoring 5 points getting to the free throw line. Dresden had no problems getting to the rim as Bulgarian forward Simeon Dimitrov and Croatian Duje Putnik scored. Frankfurt couldn´t match Dresden´s intensity right away, but slowly found their offensive rhythm hitting 2 three´s from Germans Jamie Edoka and Ivan Crnjac to trail 9-6. But Dresden had no let downs as they continued to attack the rim getting lay in´s from Putnik and German Georg Kupke to lead 15-6. Frankfurt only had the trey on their menu as Maxi Peters hit the next three to trail 15-9. Dresden kept control of the game even if Frankfurt began executing better as Lukas Smazak and Leif Zentgraf scored, but they couldn´t keep pace with Dresden who now decided to let it rain three´s as they received super support from their bench as ex Berlin Brave Kevin Kollmar and ex Speyer forward Samuel Schally scored. The side to side play by Dresden had the Skyliners Juniors running around in circles. Stone hit a 20 footer and Putnik made another lay in as Dresden had the lethal 30-19 advantage after 10 minutes. “I just play out of our offense and use the reads. It was about time that we finally hit three´s. We looked good in pre season and it seemed like we would be a good shooting team, but in the regular season we had problems hitting shots. We didn´t know where they would come from, but now we do”, said Scott Stone. The Dresden Titans shot 71” from the field and 75% from outside and had 10 rebounds and 3 turnovers and the Skyliners Juniors shot 41% from the field and 42% from outside and had 5 rebounds and 5 turnovers.

Dusan Nikolic with the drive

In the second quarter the Dresden Titans continued to control the game and despite a lethal 8-1 run by Frankfurt, it didn´t faze the guests as they led by 14 points at the break. Dresden stopped Frankfurt twice and the latter led to an easy transition bucket by Kollmar who had made the steal. Frankfurt then were able to string along some stops which led to a 8-1 run to trail the guests 33-27. In the run, the Skyliners Juniors got 2 three´s the universal genius Ivan Crnjac and a lay in from ex Kronberg center Florian Dietrich. Frankfurt displayed better team play finding open looks and were more aggressive, but they couldn´t hold their momentum. The Dresden Titans punched back closing out the second quarter with a 15-7 run to lead 48-34. Dresden continued to play good team ball and continued to attack the paint area getting easy baskets and used the extra pass numerous times. Putnik was very active scoring 8 points with a trey and lay in while Sebastian Heck also scored twice withn lay in´s while Kupke also made a jumper. Heck who was never a scorer or athletic in his career carved out a long career because of his versatility as he filled up the stat sheet like no other as he finished with 15/3/5/5/1 stats. He would also show some magical tricks in the second half. Frankfurt got execution from Dusan Nikolic with a lay in while Edoka hit a trey and German Marvin Esser made a tip in. “We got really comfortable in the game. We used their aggressiveness against them. We got many back cuts and drop offs which led to easy baskets”, stated Scott Stone. The Dresden Titans shot 69% from the field and 50% from the three point line and had 18 rebounds and 9 turnovers while the Skyliners Juniors shot 37% from the field and 35% from the three point line and had 14 rebounds and 11 turnovers.

Scott Stone from outside

The Dresden Titans continued to control the game in the third quarter and would extend their lead to 21 points after 30 minutes. The third quarter would also present a few tricks from Sebastian Heck that dazzled everyone except maybe the Skyliners Juniors. Both teams had their offenses going right off the bat in the second half as Heck and Dimitrov hit three´s while Frankfurt got 5 points from Jamie Edoka, but Dresden led 54-39. Edoka was the only guy from the Skyliners Juniors that one could rely on to get instant points at anytime, because his aggressiveness was spot on for 40 minutes. Then came the first trick play of Sebastian Heck. He was perched behind the three point line and suddenly threw up a lob pass, but instead found no hands, but nothing but net and three points. There was no Luka Donic or Steph Curry behind that play, but Sebastian Heck. “I saw it go up and then saw Heck put his hands on his head. I just smiled at him. Better lucky than good”, laughed Scott Stone. “I saw that Putnik had a mismatch under the basket and I lobbed it up. I knew it was too high when I released it. I was positively surprised when it went it. My apologies to Frankfurt as that was not what I intended to do”, said Sebastian Heck. Stone then added 5 more points with a trey and free throws as Dresden led 62-39. The Skyliners Juniors then found some daylight going on a 8-0 run to trail 62-47. As usual it was Jamie Edoka who carried his team as he added 5 points as his aggressiveness didn´t fail him and Maxi Peters added a trey. However once again Dresden didn´t wilt and punched back going on a 9-3 run to close out the third quarter leading 71-50. In the run, the Titans got another thee pointer from Dimitrov, a jumper from Stone, a bucket by Osasere Otakho and a transition lay in by Heck. Once again Heck made an amazing trick for the gallery. He came down on transition and then made an off balance lay in. It just looked special. “It´s an old men´s game. Slow legs and the lay in”, smiled Scott Stone. “I actually slipped a bit and made the lay in”, said Sebastian Heck. Alvin Oniya added a trey at the buzzer to end the quarter. “We defended well switching a lot. We had good pace and a good rhythm and leaned on it. Even if we were getting tired, we kept executing”, stated Scott Stone. “We had no mental focus and weren´t awake. We had no communication on defense”, stated Leif Zentgraf. The Dresden Titans shot 67% from the field and 56% from the parking lot and had 24 rebounds and 12 turnovers while the Skyliners Juniors shot 40% from the field and 35% from the parking lot and had 21 rebounds and 17 turnovers.

Simeon Dimitrov to the hole

The Dresden Titans lost steam in the fourth quarter as they played more of their bench and the Skyliners Juniors buckled down on defense winning the 10 minutes 13-9. Not much scoring occurred in the first 5 minutes of the last frame as Frankfurt got 3 points from Edoka and Dresden received lay in´s from Venezuela guard Leonardo Benitez and Kollmar to lead comfortably 75-53. The Skyliners Juniors then closed out the game strong with a 10-5 run. The Zentgraf brothers scored with a trey and tip in from Leif and lay in from Joschka while the last 2 baskets were spectacular as Jamie Edoka made a alley-oop dunk and Otakho made a thunderous dunk to close out a disappointing night for the Skyliners Juniors. “Frankfurt ended the game strong. When your up 20 points, it´s harder to stay sharp. That is definitely an issue that we have. We have to close out games better”, warned Scott Stone. “We played better, but it was too late. We played for pride, but that has to start in the first quarter”, stressed Leif Zentgraf. The Dresden Titans were led by Scott Stone with 21 points while Sebastian Heck added 15 points and Duje Putnik 13 points while the Skyliners Juniors were led by Jamie Edoka with 25 points while leif Zentgraf added 10 points. The Dresden Titans shot 57% from the field and 39% from outside and had 29 rebounds and 17 turnovers while the Skyliners Juniors shot 40% from the field and 33% from outside and had 36 rebounds and 25 turnovers.