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Britball.com Front

 

Conference Top Trio in score spree










Results Round-Up

NBL Conference: Interbasket 55 Teesside 109

TVL Mohawks set themselves up for next week’s top-of-the-table battle with Plymouth by crushing opponents InterBasket London by an astonishingly easy 46 points at Hackney’s Space Centre.  And to cap a memorable weekend for the club, Mohawks Middlesbrough College Academy overcame Dudley Bears to qualify for the final of the National Shield.

Anticipating a tough game in the capital, head coach Tony Hanson elected to draft in two veterans after Leon Gabbidon joined a sick list that already includes Jon Stonebridge and the out for nine months Dennis Ley.

Paul Connery, a 38 year old local league player who has trained with Mohawks for the past couple of months, was joined on court by the side’s assistant coach Paul Douglas who masterminded the Academy boys’ win, although the majority of the court time was taken up by the squad’s regular players.

The alarm bells were ringing in the home camp right from the tip off, when Lijah Perkins started a 10-0 run in the first two minutes, while two attempts from top home scorer, Laurent Irish, failed to drop.

When the home side did eventually get off the mark, through Ben Smart and Irish, the response from Mohawks was swift, forcing InterBasket to call a timeout with the score at        17-4 to stem the flow and find a way of stopping Jason Swaine from three point range.

In a rare swing of fortune, the home side found a good run of form with a 14-3 run bringing the deficit down to just 2 points (20-18), with all three of Mohawks’ coming from the free throw line courtesy of Jason Swaine following a foul outside the arc by Irish.

Despite a 5 point lead being quickly restored through an EJ Harrison three pointer and two free throws from Steve Butler, the Londoners again upset Mohawks rhythm, and with a 7-0 run of their own took the lead for the first and only time in the game, before 4 points from Perkins and Harrison proved just enough to give Mohawks a 1 point advantage (29-28) at the end of the first quarter.

The game looked well and truly on when the opening seconds of period two saw Perkins’ two point play matched by a similar score from Mansour Mybe.  But thereafter it was all one way, with Mohawks simply blitzing the opposition basket.

Over the next 6 minutes InterBasket were completely unable to breach Mohawks’ superb defence and also lacked confidence from the free throw line, where they could convert just one of seven attempts, allowing Hanson’s men to go on a demoralising 27-3 run.

No amount of effort was going to deny Mohawks.  And even when InterBasket did at last get back on the scoresheet through Smart (4pts) and stand-in coach Andrew Bailey (2), Pete Knechtel, Swaine, Ralph Bucci and Harrison added 7 between them to give their side a 64-39 half time lead.

Although the game was effectively over as a contest, Hanson warned his players that the home side would still come out fighting to salvage some pride. 

Improving on their 11 point contribution of the second quarter by a solitary point while restricting Mohawks to 18 might, in the light of the previous 10 minutes, have been viewed as something of a successful spell.  And a mini three-point fest with first Irish, then Swaine and Harrison each notching scores from long distance to keep the small crowd entertained, an otherwise dour third quarter was more memorable for raising the profile of the match officials, who even went to the extent of giving the Mohawks bench a technical foul for questioning some of the more bizarre decisions.

If quarters two and three were one sided, then period 4 was even more emphatic.

Two points from Perkins was Mohawks’ sole contribution in the first three minutes, while Irish and Smart combined to pick up 6 for InterBasket.  But it was the last play of the game before the home side scored again, through Mybe, while Mohawks added another 21 in the same spell, including two threes from Paul Douglas on his playing debut.

Tony Hanson admitted to being surprised at just how little resistance his side met.  “That was a much easier win than we anticipated,” he said.  “We know InterBasket as a very athletic and capable team, who played with a lot of heart when we met them at Eston earlier in the season, so we expected what they showed in the first quarter.  But when we made the adjustment in the second quarter it was the right move for us against that kind of team.”

Five players enjoyed double figures for the side, in top scorer Swaine plus Bucci, Perkins, Harrison and Knechtel.  But it was Yorkshireman Swaine who was the real show-stopper.  The only thing stopping him from adding to his tally was that he spent most of the second half sat on the bench.  All but three of his points came in the first half.  And he was in blistering three point form.

While it was undoubtedly a good days work from Hanson’s side it is difficult not to sympathise with the out-of-sorts Londoners. 
 
 

Solent 108 Reading 88

Mark Scott, still troubled by an achilles heel problem, did not play in this home game for Solent, but they were able to welcome back guards Duane Laight and Alan McDonald who had each missed seven league matches. The effects were beneficial as Solent kept up their pursuit of the top two with a 108-88 home win over Reading Rockets.

Nic OHarabe figured in the early action scoring six points and picking up two fouls as Solent  edged into a four point lead (13 - 9) by the fifth minute.  Reading drew level at 13 all, but baskets from 
Alan Cunningham, McDonald, John Bynum and Marlin Capers helped Solent establish a 24 - 17 lead by the first interval.

Reading lost touch with the game in the second quarter when they were only able to score three points in the opening five minutes.  Meanwhile Solent prospered with three point scores from Cunningham, Bynum and Capers to go 22 points clear at 42 - 20.   Damon Cooper ended the Reading drought with a three point shot and for the rest of the quarter until half time the teams traded  baskets, with Solent going in 57 - 35 ahead.

Once again Solent displayed their Jekyll and Hyde character as Reading, encouraged by their faithful following fans, began to make inroads on the Solent lead.  Solent were forced into too many errors by the dogged persistence of the Reading players. Capers looked particularly out of sorts - his frustration boiling over when he picked up a technical foul - as he typified a spell for Solent 
that saw their lead reduced to just nine points (64 - 55) by the fifth minute.   Having used his time-out in the third minute, coach Scott had to rely on a series of substitutions to stem the flow 
of Reading points.  It took a three pointer from Alan McDonald to settle Solent nerves and then John Bynum stepped up with three three pointers to open up a comfortable gap and leave Reading ruing the five missed free throw shots in that period.  However, by now Solent had Bynum, Capers and OHarabe on four fouls going into the last quarter.

Neither team scored in the opening two minutes of the final quarter, but Reading  were picking up fouls as they tried to get back into the game.  Solent had made eleven visits to the free throw line, scoring seven, by the time that they had established their biggest lead in the game (97 - 70) in the seventh minute.  A late rally by the game Reading team saw Ted Smith land two three pointers that reduced their final deficit to twenty points.

An unusual feature of the game was that with John Nottley's final basket of the game for Solent, all twenty players had contributed to the scoring. For Reading, the situation might have been worse but for an outstanding performance from Ted Smith who covered every metre of the court, fought for every ball, top scored with 31 points and gave his usual 110 %. "We didn't really start playing until after half time when we reduced our deficit from 22 points to 10" commented a disappointed Head Coach Dave Titmuss. 

Elsewhere it was “as you were” at the top, as the two leading teams rattled off over a hundred points each in disposing of lower-table opposition.

TVL Teesside Mohawks visited InterBasket London, and Jason Swaine led the way with 25 points as the visitors recorded a 46 point victory. CityBus Plymouth Raiders shrugged off the injury which restricted Todd Cetnar’s court-time, as Drew Samuels poured in 30 points on the way to a 35 point home win over Sutton Pumas. 
 

At Tolworth, Manchester Magic avenged their opening day defeat by Kingston Wildcats as a 25-10 second quarter set them on their way to a 24 point win which leap-frogs the Mancunians into the top four. Argyll Worthing Thunder closed back in on Kingston as they put their recent poor form behind them to keep Bupa Crusaders Coventry rooted to the foot of the table. Sean Hampton’s 41 points was the biggest haul of the weekend.

It was a similar story at the top of Division One, where Torlane Arrows Derbyshire hammered visitors Cardiff Clippers by 56 points, and defending champions Oxford Devils kept their outside hopes of retaining their title alive as Phil Alexander and Keith Kelly shared ten 3-pointers in the demolition of North west London.

Second placed Finsoft Ealing Tornados did not have quite such an easy time at resurgent Mansfield Express, having to come from behind in the final quarter to shade their game at Mansfield by three points.

At the other end of the table there was joy at last for Liverpool, as they edged past Worcester Wolves at home, for only their third win of the season. The Merseysiders are still four points adrift of North London, North West London, Cardiff and Mansfield, but at least they gap has narrowed.
The closest encounter was at Westminster, where nothing could separate the Warriors and Hull Icebergs at full time. In an amazing high-scoring overtime, it was the home side who were successful, 26 points to 23, to draw level with their visitors in the table.

In the NBL Shield, the two “form” teams won their respective semi-finals, and will meet in the Final as the climax to the National Basketball Finals at the Jesse Boot Arena Nottingham on March 24th. 
Bristol Bombers visited Barking and Dagenham for the second successive weekend, and despite the return of Dave Churches for the hosts, it was the undefeated Division Two South Champions who triumphed, by a comfortable 24 point margin, led by 32 points from Abe Ahmed. The other semi-final matched the top two in the Northern Division, but this time it was the team in second place, Middlesbrough College who recorded the victory, over leaders Dudley Bears. With Bristol unbeaten all season, and Middlesbrough having not lost since the opening two games, a thrilling Final is in prospect.

In Women’s Division One, Rhondda Rebels drew level with Sheffield Hatters (who did not play) courtesy of  a 20 point victory over Wandsworth Sting.

Thames Valley Tigers overcame the handicap of having several players competing in the BUSA finals, to enhance their top-four credentials with a good win over North West London Wolverines.
In Women’s Division Two, Trophy Finalists Stockport Lapwings moved closer to a play-off spot with a win that put Oxford SheDevils out of contention, while Sheffield Hallam kept their slim hopes alive as they disposed of struggling Leicester.
In the South, there were only two scheduled games, but Chelmsford’s visit to Brixton was postponed, and Cardiff Clippers’ late arrival at London Towers meant that only an abbreviated friendly game was possible, with the League points automatically accruing to the hosts.
 

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