2018-19Regular SeasonRound 9
December 12, 2018 CET: 19:00
Local time: 19:00 TOPOLICA SPORTS HALL

Skyliners eliminate Mornar Bar

Fraport Skyliners Frankfurt outlasted Mornar Bar 83-87 on Wednesday night to eliminate the debutant from Top 16 contention. Skyliners improved to 6-3 and will finish third in Group D regardless of Round 10 outcomes. Mornar was formally eliminated from Top 16 with the loss, which put its record at 2-7. Erik Murphy led the winners with 19 points in 4-of-5 three-point shooting, Quantez Robertson tallied 16 points and 4 steals and Shawn Huff scored 8 of his 13 points in the fourth quarter to help Skyliners put the game away. Antabia Waller paced Mornar with 15 points, 4 assists and 5 steals and Malcolm Grant contributed 13 points and 4 dimes in his EuroCup debut.

Teenager Richard Freudenberg made his first start for Skyliners and scored 5 early points and Leon Kratzer drew 4 fouls to get the Mornar bigs in foul trouble, but the hosts persevered and led 9-7 after a Dorde Drenovac slam. Murphy came off the bench firing for Skyliners, but Antabia Waller heated up for the hosts and increased the difference to 26-18. After a Skyliners timeout, Robertson ignited a 0-7 run that closed the gap to 26-25 after 10 minutes. Mornar regrouped to remain in control with the lead reaching 37-30 on Strahinja Micovic's three-point play midway through the second quarter. Skyliners finished the quarter strong with threes by Murphy and Freudenberg on a 0-8 run to reach halftime with a 42-46 edge. Kratzer's put-back made it 46-53 early in the second half and the visitors managed to protect that lead despite Jason Clark heading to the bench with 4 fouls. Huff stepped up with 5 points late in the third quarter to keep Skyliners in control at 57-64. Mornar twice drew within 2 in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter, the second time coming on a Marko Mijovic triple that made it 65-67 and prompted a Skyliners timeout. Clark fouled out with 6:18 remaining, but Skyliners got triples from Murphy, Huff and Brady Heslip to make it 72-78 before Mornar called timeout with 3:22 to play. Grant and Waller each scored to bring Marnar within 1, thus setting up a tense finish. Grant sank a go-ahead layup with 1:18 for Mornar's first lead of the second half, 81-80, but after a timeout, Huff responded for the visitors from downtown. After Sane split free throws, Frankfurt iced the game from the line through Huff and Robertson.

Game-changing sequence

After Malcolm Grant's layup gave the hosts their first – and only – lead of the second half, 81-80, with 1:18 remaining, Skyliners called timeout. The visitors moved the ball and eventually found Shawn Huff open for an open three-pointer. Mornar got the ball to Landing Sane, who was fouled and could have tied the game, but split free throws. Huff made 2 free throws on the ensuing possession and Mornar never got a chance to tie it again.

Telling stat

In a game that was decided in the final seconds, Mornar will feel it missed a chance to win and stay alive by virtue of its 18 missed free throws. The Montenegrin champs attempted a club record 36 free throws, but their 50% conversion rate was its worst, too. Antabia Waller was the only Mornar player to attempt a free throw without missing.

Three-point record?

By making 4 of 5 three-pointers, Erik Murphy improved his unreal shooting numbers from downtown this season to an uncanny 24 of 33 (72.7%). No player in EuroCup with a minimum of 10 threes made has come even close to such accuracy for a season.

In Round 10

Mornar Bar will bid farewell to the EuroCup next Wednesday in the Lithuanian capital with a game against Rytas Vilnius. Skyliners will gear up for the Top 16 with a clash against Group D winner UNICS Kazan.

Quantez Robertson - Fraport Skyliners Frankfurt (photo Mornar) - EC18
Wednesday, December 12, 2018
Eurocupbasketball.com
Referees: ROCHA, FERNANDO; ROSSI, MICHELE; THEPENIER, HUGUES
Attendance: 1030
By Quarter1234
Mornar Bar26161526
Fraport Skyliners Frankfurt25211823
End of Quarter1234
Mornar Bar26425783
Fraport Skyliners Frankfurt25466487
Mornar Bar
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
3 GRANT, MALCOLM 27:33 13 4/8 1/5 2/3   1 1 4   3     2 4 8
4 MICOVIC, STRAHINJA 18:57 9 2/4   5/7 1 3 4   1     1 3 5 11
8 MIJOVIC, MARKO 13:48 4   1/1 1/2       2   1     2 1 3
13 DRENOVAC, DORDE 20:50 9 4/6 0/3 1/4 2   2 4 2 1     1 3 10
14 PAVIC, VUKOTA 17:34 6 1/2 1/2 1/6 3 2 5           3 4 5
17 VUJOSEVIC, RADOJE 8:59 6 2/2   2/3 1   1   1       3 2 6
21 PAVICEVIC, LAZAR 3:14                              
24 WALLER, ANTABIA 24:54 15 2/3 3/8 2/2   4 4 4 5 3     2 1 18
32 SANE, LANDING 29:21 8 1/1 1/2 3/4 3 4 7   1 4     1 5 14
41 VRANJES, NEMANJA 12:27 3   1/2     1 1 3 1       2 1 6
44 REBIC, NIKOLA 13:41 5 1/3 1/2 0/3   1 1 2   1       2 3
55 LUKOVIC, UROS 8:42 5 2/2   1/2 2 3 5       1   2 2 10
Team           1 1 2               2
Totals 200:00 83 19/31 9/25 18/36 13 20 33 19 11 13 1 1 21 30 96
        61.3% 36% 50%
Head coach: PAVICEVIC, MIHAILO
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
Fraport Skyliners Frankfurt
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 MURPHY, ERIK 23:02 19 3/3 4/5 1/1 2 4 6 2   1     4 4 25
1 CLARANCE, ELIJAH 16:12 7 2/6 1/3     1 1 1 1 4   1 1   -2
2 BELL-HAYNES, TRAE 17:13 2 1/2           4   1     4 2 2
3 ZEEB, GARAI 15:31 2 1/1 0/3     2 2 4 2 3     3 2 3
4 HESLIP, BRADY THOMAS 23:40 3 0/1 1/4         2             1
5 CLARK, JASON 17:12 8 4/6 0/1     2 2 3   3     5   2
7 HUFF, SHAWN 21:49 13 1/1 2/4 5/5   3 3   2 1     4 3 14
9 FREUDENBERG, RICHARD 20:22 9 1/1 2/3 1/2   3 3 3         2 2 13
21 KRATZER, LEON 11:36 8 4/6   0/3 3 3 6   1   1   1 6 16
23 ROBERTSON, QUANTEZ 27:58 16 3/3 2/4 4/4   2 2 3 4 3     4 2 18
33 VOELLER, MARCO 5:25           1 1 1         2    
Team           1 1 2               2
Totals 200:00 87 20/30 12/27 11/15 6 22 28 23 10 16 1 1 30 21 94
        66.7% 44.4% 73.3%
Head coach: HERBERT, GORDON

Head Coaches

PAVICEVIC, MIHAILO
Mornar Bar
"When you lose the game, you cannot be satisfied. But with some periods of tonight's game I was quite satisfied. We played good basketball for most of the game. There is one game left, I tried to divide playing time among all our players, so we played with a long rotation. We missed 18 free throws, that is hard in a game decided by a single possession. Free throws are a very important part of the game. I cannot talk about anything else. Skyliners are a good team. We played a good game, but the free throws really killed us."
HERBERT, GORDON
Fraport Skyliners Frankfurt
"It wasn't much of a defensive game. Both teams had a lot of free throw shots. I thought our young kids played pretty well in the middle of the game. Our older guys played to close it out. Shawn Huff made a couple of plays late. We struggled this year in a lot of games, so hopefully this is something we can build off. Our goal was to make it to the Top 16. That’s what we have done. Next week we will re-set that goal, once we see the Top 16 group. I think Mornar shot a lot of free throws and missed a lot of free throws. They could have been up by quite a few points if they could have made free throws."

Players

ROBERTSON, QUANTEZ
Fraport Skyliners Frankfurt
"It was a hard-fought game by both teams. We came out and made some baskets. They came out and made some baskets, some tough ones, took the lead. But, we were able to stay composed and make some shots down the stretch."
MURPHY, ERIK
Fraport Skyliners Frankfurt
"They're a good offensive team. We knew they were going to come out and make some plays on offense. We had to stick together on defense. We made a couple runs, but they kept it close and our defense down the stretch ended up winning the game. I think we executed pretty well on offense, but we have to continue to get better, maybe rebound a little better and guard certain situations better. It's good to come away with a win."