Schwelm might be in last place, but they play like a team fighting for a playoff spot. "We knew they could beat anybody, so we did not want to relax against them", said Jukka Matinen. Captain Pascal Roller was at his best, leading all scorers with 29 points, six assists and four rebounds. The game might have had a different result had pascal Roller not dominated so much. "He is so important to this team. He dominates from beginning to end, creates screens and corrects players during the game", said forward Alex King.
The OPEL SKYLINERS could never really put the game out of reach, as Schwelm kept threatening and Frankfurt really needed to be focused to pull out this victory. After the first quarter it was 21-17 for the OPEL SKYLINERS and at halftime Frankfurt had a slim lead of 38 to 34. "At the beginning we did not play good defense and had early foul problems. Schwelm took advantage of this, scored a lot of baskets inside and that is why Schwelm stayed in the game", said Alex King.
Schwelm is the weakest rebounding team in the BBL, but this was never evident during the game. Frankfurt had problems outrebounding them 28 to 27. Top rebounder Chris Williams only played 28 minutes, had five rebounds and still had shoulder pain to contend with. This was a factor why the team`s rebounding suffered. "Chris scored only 11 points, but his ailing shoulder was not the only reason for that. He was often double-teamed and was in early foul trouble", said assistant coach Simon Cote.
Frankfurt knew that it would not be an easy day under the basket, so coach Didin had a specific game plan to try to force their weak three point shooters to shoot. The plan by coach Didin paid off, as Schwelm shot miserably 7 for 29 from three point land. "Our defense inside was so strong that they had to shoot more from outside. If they had scored more from outside, it could have been more of a difficult game", said Jukka Matinen.
Bernd Kruel did not play because of the flu, so the young big men had to come through. Hasan Özkan scored 12 points off the bench and Miroslav Todic had his best game as an Opel Skyliner, scoring seven points and knocking down six rebounds. Malick Badiane had a tough game, playing 17 minutes, scoring six points and grabbing three rebounds. "The big guys have to get better every game. They need game experience and continue to work hard in practice to become better low-post scorers and hopefully will be more effective in each game", said a confident assistant coach Simon Cote about the future of Frankfurt`s big men.
Schwelm had very balanced scoring but it wasn´t enough against the motivated Frankfurt squad. Shannon Crooks led his team with 17 points, followed by Marko Piplovic with 16 points, Brunno Roschnafsky with 15 points and Ryan Bond with 12 points. The dangerous Vilius Gabsys was limited to only eight points. "He is one of the best three point shooters in the league, we stopped him and that was important. Usually, he shoots a lot better", said forward Alex King.
Injuries continue to plague the OPEL SKYLINERS. Spyro Panteliadis is suffering from back problems and Mladjen Sljivancanin has a strained ankel. One bright spot was the return of Finnish Jukka Matinen. He returned after six weeks and contributed ten points. "I felt good, considering I had missed six weeks. We have a lot of injuries, so I knew I would get a chance to play", said Jukka Matinen.
The OPEL SKYLINERS return home to the Ballsporthalle on March 6 to face the rejuvenated BG Karlsruhe. Frankfurt also found out who their next opponent will be in the German cup. They will travel to face tough second league opponent Paderborn. "They recently beat Braunschweig. They are a good team and if we take them seriously from beginning to end, then we should defeat them", said a confident Alex King. The month of March looks to be very exciting, as Frankfurt continues to fight it´s way back to the top of the standings.
