It was seven months ago that American Eugene Lawrence suffered one of his worst BBL defeats of last season in Frankfurt, but at least the American from Brooklyn, New York who only has to travel 21 miles in the summer to get from his home to Englewood, New Jersey to pick the basketball brain of Champions League opponent Jordan Theodore or to trade secrets about best groomed bald heads and could still boast that his 37 point demolition against Bamberg was worse than the 78-48 loss at the hands of Theodore and the Fraport Skyliners last season. In that game, the Fraport Skyliners shared the ball around nicely while the Telekom Baskets Bonn had a cold shooting day and were totally outplayed and worn down by their stellar defense of last season. Lawrence matched the point total of Theodore with nine points, but dished out only one assist as his playmaking was severely flawed by the aggressive Frankfurt defense. Last season, losing was a habit for Lawrence with the Telekom Baskets Bonn, but this season he returned back to an old stomping ground with CEZ Basketball Nymburk (Czech Republic-NBL) where he won his only two titles in 2012. In the Czech Republic NBL league, he has helped the team register a perfect 10-0 record and their only loss was in Champions league play against Banvit and Theodore last week 75-69. In that loss, Theodore was his usual self-supplying 15 points, six boards and seven assists while Lawrence countered with 11 points. If Lawrence had the audacity to inquire Theodore after the loss some questions about how to beat Frankfurt is unknown, but one thing is for sure, Lawrence returned back to Germany with a massive chip on his shoulder after being swept by the Fraport Skyliners last season and getting creamed in the Fraport arena by 30 big ones. However once again, Lawrence had no fortune in the ex living room of Theodore as a huge second half and comeback by the Fraport Skyliners where they outscored CEZ Nymburk 44-21 helped win their second Champions League game 74-61 moving to 2-2 in group play.
After the loss, Lawrence departed from the locker room sniffling a bit as his cold wasn´t unnoticeable and his mood wasn´t either as he was more than disappointed by how his team collapsed in the second half. “I think that the third quarter killed us. We had too many turnovers and missed layups all game long. On the road, you must always be cautious of everything. We gave Frankfurt the momentum in the third quarter and it carried over until the end. We had a good second quarter, but Frankfurt punched first in the second half and kept coming”, stressed CEZ Nymburk point guard Eugene Lawrence. The Fraport Skyliners totally lost control of the game in the second quarter, but came back in the third quarter turning the game around and finishing strong to earn the win. “Coach Perwas told us at halftime to stay with it. We have worked too hard the last weeks to keep handing games away. Too often we are a good team for 20 minutes, but the other 20 minutes of not being a good team. We were more consistent and wanted it more and it paid off. It was all about better communication on offense and defense and it was the best game of the season where we did that”, explained Fraport Skyliner guard Kwame Vaughn.