Frankfurt Skyliners satisfied after defeat by Bayern

Dhe game was only a few moments over when Joshua Obiesie and Nick Weiler-Babb stood together on the center line and chatted about days spent together at Bayern Munich. The two like each other, Weiler-Babb was a mentor to Obiesie when he was still playing basketball in Munich. That evening, Weiler-Babb, who recently won bronze with the German national team at the European Championships, must have congratulated his young friend in the Frankfurt jersey on his impressive performance.

In his first Skyliners home game, Obiesie shaped the fast-paced final phase of this basketball game between two teams so unequal. With just under a minute and a half to play, the 22-year-old Skyliners point guard stepped up to the free-throw line and sunk two shots to the din of 5,002 spectators. It had been a long time since the Frankfurt Ball Sports Hall had trembled so much, an uplifting feeling, as Obiesie later said.

“We showed character”

The score was 74:79. The Frankfurters had been behind since the first quarter, at times even by 25 points, against the mighty Bayern, who didn’t even exhaust their strength. But shortly before the end they came within striking distance and the equalizer seemed possible. It wasn’t enough for that, but Bayern were very lucky.

Laurynas Beliauskas missed an open three, a foul against Tez Robertson didn’t necessarily have to be called, the subsequent Munich free throws sealed the 74:83. After the overtime defeat against Bayreuth, Frankfurt lost their second game of the Bundesliga season, but won the hall. Nothing more was to be expected.

Coach Geert Hammink sees it similarly. He acknowledged that Bayern, the first Euroleague team he coached, have different horizons than the Skyliners. But he had also seen that his team came up trumps when Munich took it easy. Especially in front of the three-point line, his team defended well in the last quarter, although they had some problems behind them.