After suffering a humiliating 85-58 loss in the Champions Cup 18 days ago, The Deutsche Bank Skyliners wanted to escape the memory of this
Bamberg offense firing range the same way the Miami Dolphins did losing 62-7 to the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2000, the 1988 Baltimore Orioles losing their first 21 games in a row or the Miami Heat losing 148-80 to the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1991 which could of started fans covering their faces with bags and Frankfurt were a lot stronger than their last visit to the Steckert arena, but had their usual woes not being able to get by the 2010 BEKO BBL champion in the fourth quarter as they gave up a 16-2 run which was fuelled by three straight drawn fouls by Anton Gavel to end the game losing 71-62. Frankfurt has only won once in Bamberg in almost six and a half years and might have had that same feeling as actor Mickey Rourke was having when he was finally going to have success again all those years prior to the Wrestler movie being a success. “We knew coming in that this would be a very difficult game. Frankfurt was banged up in the first game and came back a new team with two new players and more confidence. They fought very hard and we won, but it wasn´t easy. The
way Frankfurt came back to play better in this game from that 27 point loss last time was like a boxer who lost that first round, but came back in the next fight with more motivation to prove that they are better than their last loss. The whole Bamberg/Frankfurt history and the fact that they played each other so many times in the last year reminds me of the great rivalry of Ali and Joe Frazier”, stressed Bamberg American Kyle Hines. It was obvious by the fierceness of Frankfurt that they wanted to make amends for the Champions Cup loss. “The players had talked about the Champions Cup and were all disappointed, but didn´t want to dwell on that loss to much, but just be focused and I think that we showed that we could compete tonight and almost won”, added Skyliner Canadian national player Jermaine Bucknor.
ChampiosCup Highlights


having to face Turkish power house Besiktas Istanbul and without reinforcements, the chances of winning were slim and about as unlikely as if funny man Will Smith were to shut his mouth for a day, Bayern Munich and Louis Van Gaal not winning anymore games or tennis ace Roger Federer never winning Wimbeldon again as Frankfurt gave a superb effort, but missed too many open shots down the stretch as the Turks snuck out of the Ballsporthalle with a 68-61 win. Frankfurt knew that it would be tough going into the game without a starting center and power forward, but didn´t try to think about it. “Once you are on the court there are no excuses. Every player had to step up. We just focused on what we had on the court and we played well”, stressed Skyliner point guard Dashaun Wood. There was some pressure on Marius Nolte to fill the void and finished with six points and three rebounds in 14 minutes. “I thought a lot about this game this afternoon and how we have to go into it. I wanted to be aggressive and bring energy, but not get quick fouls. I got fast fouls and need to be more clever in the future”, warned Paderborn native Marius Nolte. Frankfurt now needs to return to Istanbul next week and win by 8 points or more to advance to the next round.
Mire has the ability to break his defender down off the dribble as well as pull up from beyond the 3-point line. He shoots at a very high percentage and it thus a threat from anywhere on the floor. Mire uses his explosive quickness and athleticism to get open shots for himself and his teammates. In addition to Mire’s outstanding offensive ability, Mire is also an outstanding defensive player as evidenced by his 3.5 steals per game during his senior season. He was voted as an NCAA Division One Defensive All-American along with 14 of the other top defensive players in the NCAA Division One. Mire is a tremendous all around guard who can dominate the game with his offensive and defensive abilities. Mire also has a great work ethic and will continue to work hard to continually improve his game. He played at UTPA and in his senior year 2001-2002, he averaged (26.2ppg), 5.4rpg, 3.9apg, 3.6spg, 48.4%FG, 35%3pts, 70%FT; Led team to a 20 win season (20-10); 3rd in nation NCAA I in scoring and steals. He played at BK Ventspils (Latvia-LBL) from 2002-2004. In the 2004-2005 season, he played at Elan Bearnais Pau-Orthez (France-ProA), got injured in March ’05 and was off for one month: Euroleague: 14 games: 16.3ppg, 4.4rpg, 6.2apg, 1.4spg, 2FGP: 50.0%, 3FGP: 48.5%; French ProA League: 31 games: 15.6ppg, 3.9rpg, Ast-5(5.9apg), 2.1spg, FGP: 47.1%, 3FGP: 34.8%. He played for Dynamo Moscow from 2005-2007. In the 2007-2008 season, he played for Triumph Lyubertsy (Russia-A Superleague,starting five): ULEB Cup: 11 games: 12.8ppg, 3.1rpg, 3.2apg, 2.1spg, FGP: 54.2%, 3PT: 40.5%, FT: 72.7%; Russian League: 22 games: 12.5ppg, 3.1rpg, 3.6apg, Steals-3(2.0spg), 2FGP: 60.0%, 3PT: 38.5%, FT: 63.6%. He spoke to German Hoops prior to the Eurocup qualifying game against The Deutsche Bank Skyliners.