Even though Frankfurt wanted to eliminate the Dragons in their den, Artland Dragon coach Chris Flemming kept his promise that his team would win this game.
The series continued to be close and exciting as the overtime period was won by Quakenbrück with only three-points more. Now, the OPEL SKYLINERS can return home and use their homecourt advantage. Frankfurt has suffered four road losses in a row and will need to win on the road in the future, because after Thursday, their homecourt advantage will be gone. Even though Croatian Marko Bulic had dropped in point totals in the previous two games (27, 22, 17), he returned with a superb game, scoring 29 points and grabbing 9 rebounds. Bulic is in the top three in playoff scoring. He also knocked down five three-pointers. Frankfurt´s attempt to stop Bulic has failed so far, even though they have been warned that Quakenbrück remains to be a team that is very difficult to defend. Hopefully, Frankfurt can contain Bulic in game five or possibly he could have an off-night?
Guard Bryan Bailey had his best game of the series, scoring 16 points. Ben Ebong continued to be a force under the basket, scoring 12 points, but his sidekick under the basket American Darius Hall was limited to six points. American Michael Hakim Jordan finished with 10 points. The Artland Dragons won the battle under the basket, grabbing 33 rebounds, while Frankfurt only had 25 rebounds. After two strong performances in game two and three by Malick Badiane and Bernd Kruel, the duo was kept in check by the Quakenbrück big guys. Badiane scored four points and grabbed seven rebounds, while Kruel had two points and three rebounds.
American Chris Williams had one of his usual good games, scoring 25 points and grabbing six rebounds. Surprisingly, American Tyrone Ellis got the call instead of American Kavossy Franklin. Coach Didin had been rotating the two players in the beginning of the series, but Ellis has played the last two games. Ellis scored 18 points, but shot only 35% from the field, 6/17. Captain Pascal Roller did not fair any better as he scored nine points, shooting 3/8 from the field. Forward Jukka Matinen scored only five points. Spyro Pantelidis scored 13 points off the bench, but missed valuable free throws down the stretch.
The first half was very tight. Frankfurt had a 14 to 13 lead after one quarter and Quakenbrück entered the dressing room at halftime leading 27 to 26. Quakenbrück started strong in the third quarter, taking a 51 to 43 lead. However, Frankfurt showed that they had a heart of a champion, coming back and taking the lead 65 to 62 with Tyrone Ellis´s fourth three-pointer of the game. Nevertheless, Frankfurt let the lead slip away as Marko Bulic hit a three-pointer and took his team to overtime 65 to 65. The overtime period was tight, but Michael Hakim Jordan led his team to victory with a three-pointer. American Tyrone Ellis missed a three-pointer with nine seconds to play that could have secured the OPEL SKYLINERS ticket to Berlin.
So far each team has won its home games. If the pattern holds itself, then Frankfurt should win game five in front of their homecourt fans. All the games have been close and game five most likely won´t be an exception. The OPEL SKYLINERS are the defending champions, but could have an early summer vacation if they don´t take care of business on Thursday night. The Artland Dragons are hungry and in search of winning their first playoff series. If Frankfurt can remain focused and use the force of their homecourt fans, then a victory should be possible. Game five is May 26th at 20:00h in the Ballsporthalle (LIVE on Premiere)
Miles Schmidt-Scheuber reporting for the OPEL SKYLINERS
