2001-02Regular SeasonRound 3
October 25, 2001 CET: 20:00
Local time: 20:00 BALLSPORTHALLE

Opel Skyliners of Frankfurt have built on their good start in Group B with a second consecutive victory on Thursday, but it was a much closer game than expected against visiting London Towers, victim of blowouts in their previous two games. Frankfurt survived a defensive battle by a slim margin, 61-57, but it was good for a 2-1 record that equals the German club's victory total of last season. Virgil Stanescu led Frankfurt with 16 points and Marcus Goree added 15 for the winners. London, which falls to 0-3 but can at least count its best effort so far, was led by John White with 15 points.

London showed character in the first half despite the game having begun with two early fouls to one of its key players, John White, who had to sit then. But London survived by doing what its best to obtain easy baskets: rebounding, passing out and getting fastbreaks. With that formula, London led 10-11 after seven minutes and forced a Frankfurt timout. It took a basket by Virgil Stanescu to allow the home team to tie the score 16-16 going into the break between quarters.

White returned with a bang for London in the second quarter, dropping a really long-distance three-pointer that gave London its biggest lead of the whole season, 16-21. Frankfurt reacted by tighteneing up its defense, but the hosts continued to miss shots until a 6-0 run and a spectacular dunk by Stanescu put the home team back in the lead at 27-25. Marcus Goree joined the fun, making it 29-25 on a nice layup, but London again did what it had to, and reacted by freeing up shooters for a pair of open attempts to get the deficit down to 33-31 at the half. Three-pointers played a big role to that point, with London having made 4 of its 12 attempts, while Frankfurt was stuck at 0-for-8 after 20 minutes.

The third quarter was a real turnover festival as neither team seemed interested in scoring points. After five minutes, Frankfurt pulled away by 41-37 and the first three-pointer for the home team, by Pascal Roller, made it 44-37. Another three by Alexander Lokhmanchuk made it 49-38 and the Towers looked dead. The visitors had one more bucket before ending the quarter down 49-40.

The fourth quarter went similarly, without many highlights, even an anti-highlight, Goree missing an easy dunk by hammering the ball off the rim. Just when the game seemed decided, at 55-44 with 4:00 left, London scored back-to-back three-pointers to close within 55-50. When time was running out at the end and both teams fouled to stop the clock, London almost tied the game. The score was 59-56 when the Towers made one free throw and then missed the next on purpose to try for the rebound and two more points. The plan failed as Frankfurt grabbed the rebound and Lokhmanchuk made two final free throws to end it for the home team.

Thursday, October 25, 2001
H.W., Frankfurt
No results found.
Referees: REATTO, MARCELLO; MANTYLA, PETRI; BAKALIS, PANAGIOTIS
Attendance: 1670
By Quarter1234
Opel Skyliners16171612
Kinder London Towers1615917
End of Quarter1234
Opel Skyliners16334961
Kinder London Towers16314057
Opel Skyliners
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 STANESCU, VIRGIL 31:32 16 8/11   0/2 5 5 10   5 1 1   3 1 24
6 DIARRA, IBRAHIM 14:12   0/4     2 3 5   1 1     1    
7 NURNBERGER, KAI DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
8 GOREE, MARCUS 38:42 15 6/18 0/2 3/3 5 6 11 3 2   1   4 5 19
9 WINTERMANTEL, ROBERT 1:28                              
11 ROLLER, PASCAL 34:08 7 1/3 1/5 2/4   3 3 2 1 1     4 2 2
12 AUSTIN, CHAD 35:06 8 3/13 0/4 2/2 2 2 4   1 3     1 4 -1
13 MARAS, ROBERT 17:14 5 2/5   1/2 2   2         1 3 3 2
14 LUTCKE, NIKLAS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
15 LOKHMANCHUK, ALEXANDER 27:38 10 2/10 1/7 3/4 4 3 7     1     2 6 5
Team                                
Totals 200:00 61 22/64 2/18 11/17 20 22 42 5 10 7 2 1 18 21 51
        34.4% 11.1% 64.7%
Head coach: HERBERT, GORDON
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
Kinder London Towers
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 BAKER, RONNIE 4:52     0/1         1   1         -1
5 EPPEHEIMER, BRETT 28:07 6 1/3 1/5 1/2   3 3 1   3   2 1 4 1
6 CHEUNG, SILAS 12:13 10 3/3 1/1 1/3   1 1 1 1 1     1 1 10
7 WHITE, JOHN 35:22 15 4/8 2/4 1/2   4 4     1 1   3 2 11
8 TOMIC, DAVOR 0:06                              
9 YOUNGBLOOD, ROBERT 3:10 1     1/2                   2 2
10 HENRY, WAYNE 4:47   0/1       1 1     1     1   -2
11 MYERS, TERRELL 34:48 13 4/5 1/4 2/2   6 6 2   4     3 4 14
12 HICKEY, PHILIP 26:32   0/1   0/4   2 2 1   3     5 2 -8
13 BARNES, STEPHEN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
14 KENT, JEFF 36:44 8 2/5 1/3 1/2 3 9 12 2 1 4     5 1 9
15 ROBBINS, STUART 13:19 4 2/5   0/2 2 5 7   1 2     2 2 5
Team                                
Totals 200:00 57 16/31 6/18 7/19 5 31 36 8 3 20 1 2 21 18 41
        51.6% 33.3% 36.8%
Head coach: FRATTIN, LINO
This game is not yet played

Head Coaches

HERBERT, GORDON
Opel Skyliners
"We knew London was better then they played the first two games. Of course, it looked ugly to our fans and I'm not pleased with how we played. They did not allow any fastbreaks and got us into a halfcourt game. It was a real rollercoaster today with a lot of up and downs. Fortunately, we were up at the end!"
FRATTIN, LINO
Kinder London Towers
"Of course, our free throw shooting was horrible today. Frankfurt dominated the boards and had too many second shots. We made a big step forward today and I'm not really disappointed with my team's performance. Before we are able to beat teams like Frankfurt, we have to not beat ourselves! I'm looking forward and hope that we get a win soon."

Players

STANESCU, VIRGIL
Opel Skyliners
"It was a big hustle today. Both teams played hard knowing that a win is very important. I'm happy that we won this game at home. It doesn't matter if we played good or bad, what counts is the win. Of course, we have to play better if we want to move on."
MYERS, TERRELL
Kinder London Towers
"We were trying to find confidence today. It was a big difference today compared to our first two games. I think we played good defense but the shots were just not falling for us. Frankfurt is a good team and very strong under the boards. With a little more luck and better free throw shooting we could have won this game."
No results found.