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Coventry in century spree
Crusaders (54) 108 Cardiff Clippers (26) 83
Crusaders scored 100 points for the second time this season against the Cardiff Clippers in a display of power, dominance and great basketball which brought victory to the hosts in Coventry.
It was also a big morale booster following the disappointing defeat against Oxford last week. The Crusaders destroyed their Welsh opponents in the first half leading 54-26 at the end of it. The home team were so dominant that it took Cardiff over four and a half minutes to score their first basket. The big scorers for the Crusaders in the first half were Derrick Pope (18), and Manny Sharland and Matt Collins (both scoring 10). Crusaders played basketball that was very pleasing to watch throughout the match and it excited the large crowd. Despite easing off a bit in the third quarter, Crusaders were able to power the final quarter, scoring 36 in the final ten minutes.
The final quarter also saw the impressive debut of Eduard Baynes-Clarke for the Crusaders. He notched up a solid 11 points and showed some encouraging defensive work. Collins was also giving his all, a performance Crusaders' fans are used to, and he motivated the team by shouting orders throughout the second half making sure that the concentration didn't slip. The electric atmosphere was underlined with the noise that erupted when Colin Rhooms scored the 100th point for Crusaders.
Crusaders can also look forward to the return of Chris Harper from his back injury, a match at the SkyDome Arena and more attacking performances like this match hopefully culminating in a place in the quarter finals of the National Trophy
Solent Stars 110 (30, 60, 94), Inter-Basket 106 (25, 54, 74)
Solent were first out of the blocks and landed six successful three pointers in the first quarter of the game. John Bynum scored two of the three pointers and he was matched by Eric Cheers who also hit two early three point shots to help Solent establish a ten point lead by the seventh minute (23 - 13). Early team foul trouble for Solent helped Inter Basket keep in touch with several visits to the free throw line.
Only one point separated the scoring by the teams in the second quarter (30 - 29) with Solent's 11 point lead (58 - 47) in the ninth minute being whittled away to just six points by half time as Alan Cunningham ended a seven point run by Inter Basket in the last minute of the half.
Solent's best spell was in the third quarter when they etablished a twenty point lead over the numerically stretched InterBasket team. Cunningham hit two three pointers followed by another three pointer from Bynum to take Solent to that lead in the last minute.
However, the final quarter was a completely different story as Solent attempted to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Coach Mark Scott once again mystified the crowd with his team selection as Inter Basket,encouraged by the countless errors of some of the Solent squad, came ever more into the game. The InterBasket coaching staff, who had been able to berate the referees without penalty throughout the game (odd, since the foul count was 26 - 16 in Solent's favour) now turned their attention to berating their own squad to ever greater efforts. Unlike Mike Bassett, England Manager, they were successful in this and Solent were forced to hang on to a slender lead having lost the last quarter 16 - 32. To make matters worse, Bynum was taken to hospital at the end of the game having injured his knee in one of the countless melees at the end of the game..
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