Sometimes a player gets that distinction of being too critical about certain offers and sits at home working out and waiting for the phone call to ring for that perfect offer that will get him a little bit more than what the previous team was offering. In the case of Fraport Skyliner Jacob Burtschi, it wasn´t so much about waiting for a team to call, but more that he wasn´t 100% healed from his back injury. He joined the Fraport Skyliners in February and two other players also returned to the Beko BBL late to the Mitteldeutscher BC with Beckham Wyrick in January and Mark mr fantastic Dorris in February. Over the years Dorris has made a name in the BBL having made incredible off balance shots for Phoenix Hagen where he looked like a gumby that has given headaches to his friend Quantez Robertson not only in Germany on the court, but also on the play grounds in their home town of Cincinnati. So far Dorris has played in only two games contributing to a 72-67 win against Braunschweig, but had misfortune shooting 0/6 and then scoring nine points against Oldenburg. In the last few weeks, Dorris got a taste of what Josh Parker experienced last season sitting on the bench because MBC keeping one too many import players. Wyrick on the other hand has had more luck having played five games averaging 7,0ppg and 3,6rpg. In his first game he mustered 11 points in a bitter 96-81 loss to Alba Berlin, but last weekend poured in 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds, but was unable to help get the team over the hump losing to Crailsheim 87-84. Wyrick like Burtschi is the teams glue guy that will do the extra on the court and little things that don´t get noticed on the stat sheet to help the team win. Wyrick has played numerous times against Frankfurt with teams like Bayreuth Bamberg and Leverkusen and still has memories of the breathtaking five game series in 2008 that Leverkusen lost on the last play not letting them reach the semi final. Dorris and Wyrick returned back to Frankfurt wanting to do damage while Burtschi was looking to stay perfect as he was 6-0 with Frankfurt since returning back to his old stomping ground for the third time. After 40 minutes Burtschi was 7-0 since returning while the MBC Cincinnati connection of Dorris and Wyrick combined for 14 points as it wasn´t enough as the Fraport Skyliners won their seventh game in a row defeating the Mitteldeutscher BC 93-76. “I thought that we played well. There were times in the game where he had problems moving the ball, but there will always be ups and downs in a game. Joe Voigtmann had an awesome game. We played decent as a team”, stressed Fraport Skyliner guard Justin Cobbs. The Mitteldeutscher came into the game reeling off a loss in Oldenburg 96 hours earlier and were without top scorer American Patrick Richard who saw close up from the bench why his team was unable to secure the win. “I thought that we competed well, but in the third quarter Frankfurt took over game. They started to hit shots and Cobbs did a great job controlling the game without having to score much. We couldn´t capitalize on their turnovers in the third quarter and took too many three pointers”, stressed Louisiana native Patrick Richard. “It was a close first half and we were able to pull away by stopping their energy and getting rebounds”, added Oklahoma native Jacob Burtschi.
Sometimes players step up when they are being observed by the German national coach Chris Fleming which German twin tower two Johannes Voigtmann did eclipsing his best scoring game ever of 27 points besting his best Beko BBL mark of 22 points against BG Goettingen and 26 points in the Eurochallenge against Estonian club Tartu Rock. Voigtmann who will have difficult cards to play in the 2015 European championships if Dirk Nowitzki and Chris Kaman play, but if they don´t the Eisenach native just could be a choice for Fleming. Voigtman started off well getting some buckets in the first quarter and then really dominated in the second and third quarters combining for 18 points. He was very aggressive in the post and really didn´t hesistate at all getting the ball and finishing with authority. He also as usual found his teammates demonstrating his dangerous kick out pass from the post finishing with five assists second best to the seven of Justin Cobbs and swatted away two balls. He even registered the play of the night and possibly the dunk of the season going coast to coast like a point guard in Quantez Robertson manner and then finishing with a powering one handed dunk. The only thing missing was a three pointer, but overall he was happy about his night as he had an efficiency of 37% and shot 10/12 from the field. “I thought that we played a good team game as six guys were in double figures. Whenever MBC guarded Cobbs well, he looked for me and did a good job getting me the ball. He found me early and I got going. I have to thank my teammates for finding me. When I got the rebound I didn´t think about going coast to coast, but about five times to whom I could pass the ball to. Then I started to dribble and got in a good swing and then it is hard to stop me”, smiled German national player Johannes Voigtmann. “You can call him Joey buckets. He did everything tonight. He saw the opportunity on that fast break and just went for it. It was a huge play”, stressed Justin Cobbs.
4,580 patrons visited the Fraport Skyliner arena on a late Sunday afternoon. The Mitteldeutscher BC was without leading scorer Patrick Richard who hurt his foot and Quantez Robertson had his Buckwheat hair-dew going. The first quarter showed two teams that were feeling each other out and where no team was able to slip away and get a big lead as there were nine lead changes. The Mitteldeutscher BC got on the board first from Island player Hordur Vilhjalmsson who got a three pointer to role in getting that Frankfurt bounce. Frankfurt charged back getting Voigtmann free throws and a Robertson jumper where Burtschi and Aaron Doornekamp supplied two touch passes to the Canadian. Mr fantastic Mark Dorris hit his bread and butter the step back and German Christian Standhardinger supplied free throws, but Frankfurt tied the game at 7-7 with a Doornekamp three pointer. Dorris kept up the offensive punch with a pull up jumper and Doornekamp connected with his second consecutive three pointer giving Frankfurt the 10-9 advantage. The lead changes continued to happen as Beckham Wyrick made a reverse lay up, Voigtmann a hook shot and Djordie Pantelic a lay in as MBC led 13-12. MBC then caught Frankfurt napping as Dorris went coast to coast for the lay in and 15-12 lead. Frankfurt retained the lead then with a Justin Cobbs three pointer 16-15. After Darryl Webb connected on free throws, Frankfurt ended the first quarter on a 6-2 run to lead 22-19 after one quarter. On the mini run, It was Mike Morrison who continued to always get the ball inside and even when he missed a dunk, he got a friendly Frankfurt bounce. Morrison and Cobbs also made free throws to extend the Frankfurt lead. “Both teams were very comfortable in their set play, found their options and were playing good team basketball. Morrison was very active and Frankfurt allowed Dorris to get going”, said Fraport Skyliners U-14 head coach Igor Starkevic. The Fraport Skyliners were shooting 43% from the field and 50% from outside while the Mitteldeutscher BC was shooting 40% from the field and 14% from outside. MBC had the 12-6 rebound edge, but five turnovers while Frankfurt had only two turnovers.
The game remained tight in the second quarter and the Mitteldeutscher BC regained the lead only once as the Fraport Skyliners held the lead for the majority of the second quarter. MBC was able to tie the game at 26-26 as ex Phoenix Hagen guard Malte Schwarz hit a three pointer and Franz Massenat connected on a three pointer. Frankfurt got production from Morrison who scored inside and Voigtmann scored on an ally-op tip in from the Doornekamp feed. Voigtmann then scored in bunches making a hook shot and making his coast to coast run after grabbing a rebound and stuffing home the ball showing that he can run with the best of them even if he is only a center. Voigtman can shoot, pass, rebound and run something that Chris Fleming might have known before, but now actually saw happen live. Even if Frankfurt had the narrow 30-26 lead, the Mitteldeutscher BC was always lurking for chances and did going on a 6-0 run to retake the lead 32-30. Standhardinger started the run with a lay in and free throw and then sharp shooter Mark Liyanage who waited seven seasons to finally play Beko BBL after playing for teams like Nordlingen, Duesseldorf and BG Goettingen dropped a three pointer. Frankfurt took a page out of the MBC run book and stopped their momentum going on a 8-0 run to retake the lead 38-32 which they would never give up again that night. Voigtmann kept being an inside force getting free throws and grabbing an offensive rebound and making the put back. Cobbs also got going connecting twice with jumpers. However Frankfurt was unable to continue to work on their lead as MBC continued to be feisty clawing their way back as Vilhjalmmson hit a jumper and 204cm Serbian center Pantelic nailed a three pointer as no Skyliner came out to contest his shot as Frankfurt led 41-38. Dorris made free throws and Cobbs made a pull up jumper with two seconds to play as Frankfurt went into half time with the 43-40 advantage. “Cobbs got going, but both teams continued to play good offense and the defense wasn´t necessarily bad, but both teams just felt comfortable on offense and just beat good defense. Tez did a better job on Dorris on defense”, added Igor Starcevic.The Fraport Skyliners were shooting 54% from the field and 50% from the three point line while the Mitteldeutscher BC were shooting 40% from the field and 29% from the three point line. Both teams had 17 rebounds, but Frankfurt had eight turnovers and MBC had seven turnovers.
Despite coughing the ball up eight times in the third quarter, the Fraport Skyliners still were able to leave the floor after 30 minutes having a 11 point lead as MBC couldn´t hit the trunk of a car if they were standing in front of it. The Fraport Skyliners came out of the locker room going on a 8-2 run to lead 51-42. Voigtmann was involved in three of the four buckets as he made a hook shot in the paint, then found Doornekamp cutting inside for the lay in and then finished on the reverse lay up as Sean Armand found him. Robertson also scored an off balance jumper. MBC was able to capitalize on some Frankfurt turnovers going on a 6-1 run to cut the Frankfurt lead to 52-48. Dorris hit two buckets and Webb made a runner. In the second half of the third quarter, Frankfurt continued to execute on offense as MBC didn´t. Frankfurt closed out the third quarter with a 12-5 run even if three of the five MBC points was a buzzer beater at the end. Frankfurt did a great job in the run finding the free throw line as Cobbs, Doornekamp and Robertson connected. Voigtmann also scored twice inside with a lay in and massive two handed dunk as Cobbs fooled everyone on the court penetrating and instead of taking a step back jumper made a quick shovel pass to the big man. Frantz Massenat ended the third quarter shocking the arena with an almost half court bank shot. Massenat took up the slack for the injured Patrick Richard and played a solid game connecting with 14 points. “Coach told me I had to be a leader, be aggressive and be in attack mode. In the third quarter they had many turnovers, but we couldn´t capitalize and missed too many three pointers”, said Frantz Massenat. “We were fortunate to have the lead, but we did a better job on their pick and role which hurt us in the first half. They also struggled with their three pointer which allowed us to keep the lead”, expressed Jacob Burtschi. The Fraport Skyliners were shooting 63% from the field and 50% from the parking lot while the Mitteldeutscher BC were shooting 38% from the field and 24% from the parking lot. Frankfurt had the 27-18 rebound edge as MBC hauled down only two rebounds that quarter. Frankfurt had 16 turnovers and MBC had 11.
In the fourth quarter the Fraport Skyliners continued to extend their lead going on a 11-4 run to shut the door on the Mitteldeutscher BC. In the run it was Voigtmann scoring a bucket inside, hitting three free throws and Brooklyn native Sean Armand finally got going waking up dropping two big three pointers and saying good night to MBC at 18:25pm. MBC tried to come back, but each time the momentum of Frankfurt seemed to rise as Armand hit another three pointer. Armand hit his third and fourth three pointers of the fourth quarter as the Fraport Skyliners led 84-67. MBC had one last spec of comeback energy left going on a 5-0 run to cut the Frankfurt lead to 84-72 as Schwarz nailed a three pointer and Webb snatched an offensive rebound and made the put back. Frankfurt then closed out the game with a 9-4 run. In the run, Herbert inserted young Germans Johannes Richter and Niklas Kiel. Morrison made a monster dunk, Cobbs made free throws as did Richter. Ex TBB Trier forward Oliver Clay did some cosmetic work for his stat line hitting consecutive baskets and Armand put an exclamation mark on the night with Second Good Night hitting his fifth three pointer of the fourth quarter. “Armand really took his time to get going, but in the fourth he took the opportunity and hit shots”, stressed Mark Dorris. “We have many great scorers, but Armand showed what he could do in the fourth quarter. I hope he takes that confidence into the next game in Bonn”, stressed Jacob Burtschi. The Fraport Skyliners had six players in double figures led by Johannes Voigtmann with 27 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two blocks. Sean Armand added 15 points and Justin Cobbs 14 points and seven assists. Quantez Robertson contributed 13 points and Mike Morrison and Aaron Doornekamp 10 points a piece. The Mitteldeutscher BC was led by Frantz Massenat with 14 points. Christian Standhardinger and Mark Dorris contributed 12 points a piece and Djordje Pantelic added 11 points. The Fraport Skyliners shot 59% from the field and 53% from outside while MBC shot 40% from the field and 25% from outside. Frankfurt won the rebound duel 34-29, but had 19 turnovers while MBC had 13 turnovers.
German Hoops 