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NBL Review: Dogged Stars dazzled by Mohawks
NBL Conference: Solent Stars 93 Teesside Mohawks 97
Unbeaten this season in Cup and League fixtures, Teesside Mohawks were Solent's first home league opponents for this match at Fleming Park Leisure Centre but it was the visitors who left with a 93-97 win.
Solent left out new signing and former Mohawk Nick OHarabe for this game and Steve Davison, taking his role and starting for the first time, was Solent's first scorer as he sank a three pointer to reply to Ralph Bucci's opening points that had come straight from the tip off. One more home basket, from Marlin Capers, followed but then Teesside took over the proceedings with accurate shooting and decisive court movements. Solent gave a strangely muted performance as they failed to score for four minutes and found themselves trailing 5 - 15. A three pointer from Duane Laight at the end of the quarter just kept Solent in touch with Teesside although trailing by nine points.
The game was completely transformed in the second quarter when Solent began to hit their shots and play with more purpose. Solent opened with three three point shots (Capers 2, Bynum) and by the fourth
minute had levelled the scores (33 all) before eventually taking a ten point lead (45 - 35) which was closed as Teesside came within two points (45 - 43) with a run of baskets at the end of the first half.The third quarter was a repeat of the first quarter in this see-saw game, with Teesside dominating the game against a lacklustre Solent effort. Solent could only manage five points in the last five minutes of the quarter and left themselves a very high hill to climb by trailing 62 - 75.
In an incident packed final quarter which had the 350 plus crowd on the edge of their seats, Solent pulled back the lead to five points at the start of the penultimate minute of the game. Chris St Omer, Cunningham, Laight and Capers had all put points on the board in the early stages and Bynum added four more to bring the score to 91 - 94 and his own tally to a game-high 31 points. He then missed a free throw and this was followed by the ever cool Ralph Bucci, Teesside's leading scorer with 30, missing two as the tension mounted. Alan Cunningham left the game with his fifth foul and was followed almost immediately
by Lijah Perkins also on five. Two more successful free throws by Marlin Capers brought the score to 93 - 94 with less than 30 seconds remaining. Solent, however, were unable to get the ball from Teesside and were forced to foul and conceded three more points from the line. Their last attack fizzled out as tiredness finally took its toll and Teesside were able to preserve their current unbeaten record.
Kingston Wildcats 90 Worthing Thunder 115
Worthing Thunder rolled into Tolworth Recreation Centre with an unbeaten record in the Conference, averaging 111 points a game. They left with their record intact and a 25 point win after putting on a clinic for the Conference new boys. Worthing started the game confidently, quickly opening up a 13 - 2 lead. However Kingston came back with some good three point shooting to end the quarter down by 27 - 22. Sean Hampton and Gaylon Moore dominated the second quarter, and with Kingston's Solomon Ayinla on the bench with three fouls the Thunder pushed their lead out to 49 - 36 at half time.
The second half started at a frenzied pace, and continued that way. Kingston put a decent 22 points on the scoreboard, but Worthing amassed a staggering 40 points for the quarter. Mid way through the fourth quarter the Wildcats suffered a blow when Chris Jeremiah had to be taken to hospital after dislocating two
fingers. With the result beyond doubt, most of the final quarter was played with both benches on court. American guard Sean Hampton was the top scorer in the game with 45 points, including 7 three pointers and a 75 FG%. Kingston got 30 points from Jamie Whitaker and an impressive 18 points off the bench from Mark Bottiglia.
Coventry Crusaders 76 Reading Rockets 85
Reading Rockets produced a storming performance at the Coventry Sky Dome to totally overwhelm a bewildered Coventry team. "It was a commanding display to record our first win in the National Conference League with outstanding performances from Damon Cooper and Ted Smith" commented Team Manager Gary Johnson. Head Coach Dave Titmuss was equally up beat "Had we not lost concentration in the last quarter we would have won by 25 or more such was our dominance".
Rockets started very positively with John Hodds drawing a foul under the basket. Unfortunately he missed both shots from the line but enter Cooper with a monster three pointer, the first of six in the game from a man playing at the top of his form. Then deja vu as Hodds was again fouled only to miss both from the line but Cooper scored another three pointer. This was quickly followed by a Smith three and Coventry took their first time out as Rockets took an early 9-4 lead. After Cooper missed an easy lay up Ted Smith scored another three. Enter former Edinburgh forward David Washington making his Rockets debut and an immediate impact with a tremendous block on a Coventry shooter. Pem Bristol scored off balance with a nice jump shot and Washington made another block. Cooper put in another three and after Smith made one of two from the line Washington scored his first Rockets points turning cleverly inside under the basket
for two. Rockets finished the quarter 22-16 ahead having missed five from the free throw line and two easy lay ups.Coventry scored immediately from the tip off of the second quarter but Rockets put together a great passing move for Cooper to finish off with a nice jump shot for two points. Eames made an immediate impact when he came on with an immaculate jump shot and Cooper put in another three, Captain Matt Johnson steamrollered his way to the basket only to be fouled and he made one of two from the line. Washington cleverly drew a foul under the basket only to miss both from the line but Bristol with the ability to jump higher than anyone in the league made a great rebound to score two. Cooper went the length of the court to score two and Bristol hustling and harassing his opponent made a great steal for Cooper to covert into two points. Washington, clearly a class act who will add another dimension to the Rockets team, scored another two for a 40-35 Rockets lead and Coventry called a time out with just over a minute to half time. When play resumed sharp shooting Cooper scored yet another three and Washington two for a 45-36 Rockets half time lead.
After Hodds and Washington opened the Rockets scoring in the third quarter Coach Titmuss called a time out as Coventry increased their intensity in an effort to gain control of the game. But Cooper and Smith had other ideas as they ran riot in the Coventry defense in a breathtaking display of power, precision and determination, increasing the Rockets lead to 63-44 with five minutes remaining. Matt Eames ended Rockets scintillating quarter with a jump shot for two points and a Rockets lead of 72-53.
The last quarter was at best very poor for Rockets as they missed a large number of straight forward lay ups and squandered possession allowing Coventry to make the final score somewhat more respectable than they deserved. Having said that the result was never in doubt as Pem Bristol finished off the Rockets scoring with two from two at the line.
Division One: Hull Icebergs 69 Derbyshire Arrows 80
The Hull Icebergs pushed the unbeaton Derbyshire Arrows all the way, but just failed to pull off the victory.
A three by Hull's Karl Seamarks tied the game up at 6-6 early on, but Derbyshire showed why they are challenging for the league title. They went on a 7-0 run, with the help of a three pointer from Kingsley Elmer, and led 13-6 with 6-00 left. The Arrows continued their early dominance by then going on a 9-0 burst, either side of a Icebergs timeout, and with under 2.00 left led 22-8. The only down side for them was an injury to Jamie Davidson, and by the end of the first Quarter they led 26-10. Harsh words must have been said to his team, by home Player/Coach Kevin Penny, and it did the trick as Hull started to assert themselves.A 4-0 run brought them back to trail 26-14 with 7.31 left. Derbyshire hit back with a 6-0 run of their own, but the home team were fired up now and came back with another 6-0 run to cut the deficit to 32-20 with 5.00 remaining. One last late run by the Icebergs including another three by Seamarks and a two pointer at the buzzer by Miguel Canelo left them trailing 35-33 at the half. The Home fans gave them a tremendous ovation as they left the court having only allowed Derbyshire to score nine points in the Quarter. Hull continued in the early part of the second half with a 4-0 run to put them in front 37-35. A three by Canelo increased the Icebergs lead to 44-39 with 5.20 left. Derbyshire to their credit hit back again with a 6-0 burst to regain the lead 45-44 with 4.00 to go. Elmer hit another three for the Arrows with 0.25 remaining, but Tarryn Algar replied for Hull with another basket at the buzzer, to pull them back to a 56-53 deficit at the end of the Quarter.
It was the Arrows who started quicker with a 4-0 run in the first minute of the last term. After both teams traded baskets, two freethrows by Kevin Penny and a basket by John Brignall helped Hull to close the gap to 66-61 with 5.00 left. Hull kept going and another three by Canelo pulled them back to trail 68-66 with 3.30 to go. Kevin Penny had the chance to tie the game with two freethrows, but could only make one. That however was as close as Hull could get, as the Arrows produced at both ends of the court in the closing stages of the game to escape with the win.
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