It was supposed to be the happy homecoming of ex Skyliner head coach Gordon Herbert who helped the organization win 2 of their 3 club titles. However less than a week before the game, FC Bayern Munich and Herbert went separate ways. FC Bayern Munich didn´t have a positive Euroleague record so they had to make a change. They surprised the basketball world a little bringing in coaching legend Sveitslav Pesic for another tour of duty in Bavaria. Despite the negative Euroleague record, they did arrive in Frankfurt with the BBL´s best record of 9-1. The Skyliners snapped their 2 game losing streak with a convincing win against Science City Jena and now wanted to continue their winning streak with a major upset. Isaiah Swope who pulled a Jordan with 11 consecutive points in crunch-time to secure the win now could battle against ex NBA guys like Xavier Rathan-Mayes (191-G-1994, college: FSU) and Wenyen Gabriel. On a cold post Xmas evening, the Skyliners were able to keep up with Euroleague team FC Bayern Munich for a quarter, but in the second quarter the current easyCredit BBL champion team took control of the game and never looked back winning 97-69. “We gave up way too many second chance points and offensive rebounds. We had some good defensive segments with 1-1 defense, but overall we couldn´t match their physicality”, stressed Skyliner Ryan Hawkins. FC Bayern Munich found their offense rhythm in the second quarter and played aggressive defense for 40 minutes stifling the Skyliners and not allowing them to find any kind of sound rhythm. “We had a game plan and that was too play good defense and play with pace. Coach Pesic wants us to be great on defense and to score within the first 6 seconds. We got on transition and had a good flow on offense. On defense our biggest strength was ball pressure and disrupting their offense and getting into the passing lanes”, stressed FC Bayern Munich guard Xavier Rathan-Mayes.

Logan Johnson at the FT line

The Skyliners continued to be without their best scorer and rebounder Jaedon LeDee while FC Bayern Munich was without ex NBA player Spencer Dinwiddie. The first few minutes was a real battle between both teams that consisted of less scoring and aggressive defense. Ex Creighton forward Ryan Hawkins came up big with 2 steals which led to a Jacob Knauf trey and Christmas free throw while FC Bayern Munich attacked the rim and got big dunks from world champion Andreas Obst and Serbian Vladimir Lucic as Munich led 6-5. However Frankfurt then had a real potent stretch going on a 10-2 run to lead 15-8. In the run, Frankfurt was aggressive getting inside getting a lay in from ex Virginia Tech guard Nahiem Alleyne and a dunk from 2018 NBBL champion Lorenz Brenneke while ex Vechta guard Radi Caisin hit a triple. FC Bayern Munich were slow to finding a rhythm, but their bench came up big led by 2 time NCAA champion with UConn Niels Giffey who hit three three´s while ex Memphis Grizzlie Xavier Rathan-Mayes was aggressive getting to the free throw line 3 times and scoring 5 points. FC Bayern Munich had punched back with a 14-2 run to lead 22-19 after 10 minutes. That was most of the damage that Giffey did in the game scoring wise which helped his team secure the momentum going into the second quarter. He would make 1 more trey later in the second half. “We got easy stuff on offense and had an offensive flow and took good care of the ball. Basketball is a game of runs and they hit us for a run keeping the game close”, stressed Ryan Hawkins. FC Bayern Munich shot 42% from the field and 33% from outside and had 15 rebounds and 2 turnovers while the Skyliners shot 33% from the field and 22% from the field and had 7 rebounds and 1 turnover.

Vladimir Lucic from outside

FC Bayern Munich took control of the game in the second quarter going on a big run and would never look back. FC Bayern Munich took care of business right away punching the Skyliners in the face with a 15-2 run to extend their lead to 37-21. Munich´s aggressive on ball pressure was too much for them as turnovers grew in volume for Frankfurt. On offense good team basketball coupled with extreme good 1-1 players led to a dominance on offense. EX Ulm forward Justinian Jessup began with 5 straight points as his high energy really carried the team. The giant FC Bayern offensive arsenal kept executing as Obst added 5 points as did ex Stanford forward Oscar da Silva as the team´s inside out game was working to perfection. Frankfurt was always a step to slow. American Isaiah Swope stopped the Munich run with a trey to trail 37-24. FC Bayern´s consistent aggressive defense led to rapid transition baskets from ex Boston Celtic Wenyen Gabriel and German world champion Justus Hollatz and the 41-24 Munich lead. The Skyliners had scarce offensive execution as Caisin made a lay in while Swope added 5 points. The ex Indiana State (NCAA) guard Swope was the only real bright spot for the Skyliners as his excellent 1-1 play was always good for a ooh and a ahh as he is a real highlight reel. First he nailed a trey in Gabriel´s face and then made a nifty lay in after slipping, got up and slid to the hoop. “He shows plays like that in practice. It is fun playing with him. He never gives up, but just keeps playing even if he slips. He gets our offense going”, said Ryan Hawkins. FC Bayern Munich added Gabriel free throws and a Rathan-Mayes lay up to lead 48-31 at the break. “Key for taking control of the game was getting stops and playing with pace. We had rim runners that opened up lanes. That helped me and the other guards and also got paint touches”, said Xavier Rathan-Mayes. “We gave up way too many offensive rebounds. They didn´t let us run our offense”, stated Ryan Hawkins. FC Bayern Munich shot 53% from the field and 38% from the three point line and had 23 rebounds and 6 turnovers while the Skyliners shot 37% from the field and 27% from the three point line and had 10 rebounds and 7 turnovers.

Isaiah Swope from the corner

The third quarter was the Skyliners strongest quarter as they won it 19-18, but still couldn´t get over the hump as they trailed by 16 points after 30 minutes. The Skyliners came focused out of the locker room bursting out on a 5-0 run as ex G-League player Logan Johnson connected on free throws and Alleyne dropped a trey to trail 48-36. But that didn´t faze FC Bayern Munich as they punched back with a 7-0 run to lead 55-36. In the run, it was Andreas Obst supplying the needed support with his sniper shooting with a 20 footer and trey while Gabriel made a pretty alley-op dunk off the perfect feed from Hollatz. “Obst is a great player. We tried to run him off the line as best we could. He just spreads the floor so well”, stated Ryan Hawkins. Munich continued to control the game as Vladimir Lucic also displayed some production with a trey while ex Alba Berlin center David McCormack made a alley-op tip in off the great feed from Rathan-Mayes for the 63-41. Fc Bayern Munich couldn´t keep the consistency in the last minutes as they let up a bit as the Skyliners finished the quarter with a 9-3 run to trail only 66-50. In the run, the Skyliners let it rain three´s as Isaiah Swope drilled home 2 three´s as he is slowly showing that he can hit from any place in his living room while Hawkins also scored. “We played well in the last 2 minutes. We wanted to get to 10 points and then see what can happen”, stressed Ryan Hawkins. “Basketball is a game of runs. We knew that they weren´t going to give up”, stressed Xavier Rathan-Mayes.

Andi Obst from downtown

FC Bayern Munich weren´t about to let up in the fourth quarter, but instead found some extra energy and exploded for 31 points and easily sealing up the win. FC Bayern Munich sealed up the win in the first few minutes and went on a 12-0 run to lead 78-50 as the game now had become a major blow out. In the run, FC Bayern Munich shared the love around as they played beautiful team basketball. Scoring point guard Rathan-Mayes added 4 points, Giffey dropped his 4th trey of the game, Da Silva made a dunk and Jessup another trey. At the 7,08 minute mark, the first fans began to exit the arena. Frankfurt finally stopped the run with a Will Christmas off balance shot and began to execute better as Caisin hit a few three´s, but couldn´t make any ground as the guests really had an offensive rhythm now as Rathan-Mayes began to heat up with 7 points while even the 12th man 2025 NBBL champion Nikolas Sermpezis did his job nailing a trey from the corner for the unstoppable 91-64 FC Bayern Munich advantage. Caisin continued to have the hot hand connecting on another trey, but FC Bayern Munich closed out the game with pure Oscar da Silva dominance as he scored the team´s last 3 buckets. The only thing missing from it being a perfect FC Bayern Munich night was reaching the 100 points. “We wanted to continue to add pressure and not step off the gas pedal. We just continued to paly our game and do what got us here. We did a good job with 26 team assists”, commented Xavier Rathan-Mayes. “We gave up to many easy points. We couldn´t get on transition and had to much set offense”, added Ryan Hawkins. FC Bayern Munich had 5 guys scoring in double figures and were led by Xavier Rathan-Mayes with 19 points. Niels Giffey added 15 points and Andreas Obst 14 points while the Skyliners were led by Isaiah Swope with 18 points while Radii Caisin had 14 points. FC Bayern Munich shot 58% from the field and 50% from outside and had 36 rebounds and 14 turnovers while the Skyliners shot 40% from the field and 36% from outside and had 21 rebounds and 20 turnovers.