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Plymouth work magic to edge in front NBL Conference: Plymouth Raiders: 83 Manchester Magic: 77
This was a game the Magic could have won, against one of the strongest teams in the Conference and without key players Sean McKie and Wayne Mulgrave, but in the end Plymouth took a two point lead at the head of the NBL Conference.
Undaunted by the 1,300 home crowd and the reputation of their opponents, all the Magic squad played confidently and well, but the crucial contributions were made by the two youngsters, James Jones and Haris Charalambous. From the start, Jones controlled the Magic’s game brilliantly from the point guard position and had scored 8 of his side’s 20 points by the end of the first quarter. By half-time, they had turned a 4 point deficit into a 5 point lead, 40-35, as the whole team played really well, with Kevin St. Kitts delivering his usual stylish performance and the bench players all contributing.
In the second half, Haris caused the opposition all kinds of problems under both baskets, showing the skill and physical presence which have brought him so much success at England Under-18 level. The Magic went into the the last quarter with a slim lead of 60-59 and with 2 minutes to go, it was 72-72, then came the bad luck. Jon Linsley, after another sound game, fouled out and immediately there was a 24 second violation by the Raiders. The officials erroneously gave them another 24 seconds possession and they scored, giving them the momentum for the last minute. The Magic had to foul to gain possession and the Raiders sank 6 shots from the line. The Magic could not match their accuracy from the free throw line and lost the game by 6 points. Disappointed by the 24 second call, Coach Jeff Jones was jubilant about is team’s excellent team spirit and commitment and especially about the performance of his two youngest players. Conference teams be warned – there are plenty more where they came from.
Sutton 85 Inter Basket 77
A failure to convert foul shots and lay-ups cost Inter Basket dearly as they fell to defeat at
Sutton Pumas on Saturday evening. Pumas had the obvious height advantage with 7' James Cook in their line-up whilst Inter were missing their tallest players, Ben Smart and Laurent Irish, both out
with illness.Neither side were able to establish an early advantage, with Sutton leading 14-13 after six minutes.
However the visitors made an 8-0 run to open the first sizeable margin with Grant Ebanja scoring
four. Sutton scored five unanswered with an Ebanja foul shot enabling Inter to lead 22-19 at the
end of the first quarter.When Mansour Mbye extended the lead to five, the East Londoners should have consolidated their
advantage. Pumas, however, had other ideas and a 10-0 run, with Marcus Knight contributing five,
gave them their biggest lead of the game so far. Inter were struggling for good offence and with
Shaun Grey starting to find his range, Sutton opened out to 37-29 after six minutes of the second
quarter. But just as quickly Inter found their resolve and with James Miller making back-to-back
three-pointers as part of a 9-0 run, the visitors retook the lead. The teams traded baskets over the
last two minutes to leave Inter leading 43-42 at the half.The teams traded baskets early in the third period before a run of eight unanswered took Sutton out to 54-46 with Grey and Gareth Laws prominent. Franck Batimba came through strong for Inter but suddenly the margin was 11 at 60-49. Inter tightened their defence to restrict their opponents to just three baskets in the last four minutes of the quarter but woeful foul shooting, just nine of
eighteen in the period, left them trailing 66-56 with 10 minutes remaining.Inter's defence was again strong and in the first seven minutes of the final period they held Pumas
to just seven points as the margin reduced to 73-67 with Batimba, Mbye and Miller featuring. Laws
replied for Sutton but further scores from Batimba and Mbye brought it back to four. But that was
as close as it would get as calm play from Pumas, including four from six at the line, enabled them
to ease out by 85 points to 77 in a match that had featured the very rare occurrence of both sides
fielding all British line-ups.Gareth Laws 26 and Shaun Grey 18 had led Pumas, whilst for Inter, Franck Batimba 26 (20 in the second half) and Mansour Mbye 15 were the highest scorers.
Reading Rockets 83 Coventry Crusaders 84 (After Over Time)
Reading Rockets paid the price once again for inconsistent form and naivety in the end game which resulted in bottom of the Conference Coventry registering only their second win of the season. In a poor quality and scrappy encounter Coventry Player Coach Dip Donaldson's team took full advantage of Rockets lapses of concentration. Stand in Head Coach Matt Johnson was disappointed "We had a very poor fourth quarter and never recovered from it but prior to that we had played some decent stuff".
Rockets started brightly with John Hodds in the thick of things scoring six points thanks to some excellent passing moves. After four minutes Rockets took their first time out at 10-7 up. On the resumption the much underrated Adam Kelly came up with a long jump shot for two, Damon
Cooper took a pulversing charge from a Coventry player twice his size and Hodds turned cleverly and made two inside for Rockets to go 16-9 up.The hosts' first momentary lapse came in the form of a traveling violation on the 23rd second of their offense but a steal by Hodds to give Pem Bristol an easy lay up and an excellently controlled jump shot from Matt Eames made up for this hiccup. In the last two minutes of the quarter Coventry went from 20-14 down to 21-20 ahead thanks in no small part to some strong arm tactics and unforced errors from Rockets. Cooper was fouled in the last few seconds and made both from the line to give Rockets a 22-21 lead going into the second quarter.
Coventry scored two immediately from the tip off and Rockets failed to score on their first three offensive drives and Coventry made a three point play to give them a 26-22 lead with eight minutes remaining. Ted Smith made a nice shot for two whilst under extreme pressure but Bristol
missed two from the line after a foul and Rockets failed to score on their next possession. After Smith controversially picked up his fourth foul, Coventry then fielded their largest five players who proceeded to make the game into a scrappy, rough and physical contest. The tactic certainly disrupted Rockets rhythm and it took some determined play from Cooper and Eames for Rockets to stay in touch. In the last minute Coventry scored five points without reply as Rockets gave away possession cheaply and they took a 41-35 lead into the half
time interval.Rockets struck back at the start of the third quarter through the excellent Hodds with six points, Bristol with an extraordinary hook shot for two and Smith a lay up. Coventry now only 46-45 ahead took a time out to regroup. The teams continued to exchange baskets, Bristol with clever footwork made two, Kelly with his compact action made a tough jump shot and Hodds made two from the line having been fouled. Eames added to his total after good work from Evan York and Cooper gave Rockets the lead at 56-55 with a three pointer with two minutes remaining. Coach Johnson took a time out and when play restarted Rockets showed tremendous determination and through Durrant, Bristol, Smith and Cooper took a 63-55 lead into the last quarter.
The start of the fourth quarter was a total disaster for Rockets who failed to score any points for the first four minutes whilst Coventry gratefully scored twelve. Ted Smith was then fouled out for a
ridiculously called offensive foul. Hodds broke the Rockets points drought with two lay ups and Eames scored another jump shot. After Kelly scored under extreme pressure and Bristol made two, Coventry's lead was cut to one point at 77-76 with one minute remaining. Coach Johnson
called a time out with 53 seconds remaining and Rockets possession. On the restart Rockets lost the ball but Coventry failed to get over the half way line in the eight seconds allowed and Rockets regained possession for Cooper to make two from a nice jump shot for 78-77 Rockets lead. Eames was fouled out with four seconds to go and Coventry had a chance to win the game from the line but they only managed one point to level at 78 each and five minutes overtime awaited.
Coventry gained first possession and scored and they scored another two after Cooper's attempted three rimmed out. Hodds showed strength under the basket scored two and got the foul which he converted. Cooper missed another three attempt and Rockets failed to score on their next offense. Kelly scored two to give Rockets an 83-82 lead with just under two minutes remaining. Kelly then missed what looked a straight forward lay up and Coventry took a time out. Rockets missed another simple lay up on the resumption and Coventry scored two more for 84-83 lead with thirty seconds remaining. Rockets couldn't find a way through the Coventry defense and a stunned silence hit the Rivermead as the final buzzer sounded.Worthing 65 Kingston 68
In mid-table, Kingston Wildcats got the better of Trophy Finalists Argyll Worthing Thunder, coming from eight points down in the final quarter, to win by three, aided by 23 points from Solomon Ayinla. Kingston edged ahead of Manchester into the top four, while the Thunder find themselves slipping backwards towards the group battling to avoid the foot of the table.
NBL Men's Division One: Derbyshire Arrows 102 Hull Icebergs 76
The Derbyshire Arrows were in irrepressible form as they scored an impressive victory over the Hull Icebergs by 102 – 76 in front of another good crowd at the Queens Park Sports Centre. This victory improves the Arrows record at the top of the Division to 14 – 1 as they prepare for next Saturdays Championship decider away at the Ealing Tornados.
The Arrows grabbed the early initiative with Waite, King & Bevington dominating the early exchanges as the Arrows ended the quarter with a 25 – 16 advantage.
The introduction of Gayle in the second quarter led to a 21 – 4 run for the Arrows, who were strangling the Icebergs defensively while showing a ruthless streak of their own on offense. Hull to their credit rallied towards the interval but the Arrows were still well in charge at 51 – 33.
The third quarter has been a strong one for the Arrows all year and Davidson opened with two “3 pointers” followed by two Bevington “dunks”, the Arrows were in full flow leading 73 – 43 against a Hull team who have victories against all of the Arrows main rivals on their record.
The Arrows went on to control the game in the final quarter as Bevington, King, Ellmer & Davidson watched from the sidelines, with the victory secured, the Arrows eventually running out 102 – 76 winners. The quality of the Arrows teamwork was reflected in the balanced scoring which saw no less than 5 players score double figure points.
Finsoft Ealing Tornados, who snatched the Division Two Championship final from Derbyshire last season, remain their closest challengers, and they stayed on three defeats as they beat Worcester Wolves by 36 points. Meanwhile the two teams with four defeats kept pace; Ware Rebels disposed of North West London Wolverines by 23, and defending Champions Oxford Devils took a 32 point victory at Liverpool.
North London Lords picked up a good home victory over Cardiff Clippers, with Sam Stiller hitting seven 3-pointers in his 25 point tally, and Mansfield Express posted an impressive 111 points in beating Westminster Warriors. That leaves the Clippers, the Express and the Lords locked together on four victories, just behind the Wolverines, with five, but Liverpool are now adrift at the foot of the table, with just two wins in sixteen starts.Division Two North leaders Dudley Bears got back to winning ways, at Sheffield Sabres, who remain point-less, but Middlesbrough College kept the pressure on, with an emphatic victory at struggling Birmingham University.
In Division Two South, the departure of Oxford Braves (and the deletion of teams’ records against them) combined with a shock defeat for Barking and Dagenham at Taunton, left Bristol Bombers celebrating the first title success of the season, without taking the court over the weekend! The overall Division Two Champions, however, will be decided by the play-offs, involving the top four from each of the North and South.
There was no play in most of the Women’s Divisions, due to International squad training, but Tyne & Wear and Birmingham Force met twice in the North East. On Saturday the West Midlands outfit lost their unbeaten record in Division Two North as their closest challengers inflicted a 4 point reverse, but worse was to come on Sunday, as the Force found themselves out of the National Trophy, despite 30 points from Elaine White, as Tasha Brown’s 27 points helped Tyne and Wear to a crushing 34 point victory.
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