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Teesside close in on title
NBL Conference:Sutton 82 Teesside 136
TVL Teesside Mohawks need only one win from their four remaining fixtures to lift the Conference League crown. The side has been everyone’s favourite to lift the title this season, but a staggering victory for the club at Sutton on Saturday, combined with a shock 108-100 defeat for second placed Plymouth at Reading on Sunday, means the club will surely deliver on their promise and secure at least the double this term.
On current form they won’t have to wait too long, with a double-header programme at Eston Sports Academy this weekend – the return against Sutton and a visit from third placed Solent Stars rapidly being prepared for celebrations.
Sutton won’t be looking forward to their visit, after crashing to a massive 54 point defeat to Mohawks on their home court.
Poor Pumas were simply no match for Mohawks, who were once again in a class of their own and justified their favourites tag with a 136-82 result, despite missing Pete Knechtel and courting four players nursing injuries.
Already a massive 75-38 up at half time thanks largely to a 42-15 second quarter, head coach Tony Hanson could afford to bench his top players for long periods – including most of the final 10 minutes.
Seven of the nine-man squad notched double figures, with EJ Harrison, Lijah Perkins and Ralph Bucci each scoring 22 points and Jason Swaine posting 20.
The writing was on the wall for Pumas as early as the opening two minutes when their first four shots missed the target and Mohawks, with a defence as solid as against Plymouth a week earlier, quickly went 10-0 up before James Cook, who went on to top score with 26, stopped the rot.
Dorian Jones gave Pumas a sense of hope when he launched a single-handed five point unanswered run in the sixth minute to reduce Mohawks’ lead to five, but this was quickly snuffed out by Harrison and comeback man Jon Stonebridge to leave the home side trailing 23-33 by the end of the first quarter.
There has probably been no bigger mauling anywhere this season than the second quarter of this game. Poor Sutton were almost spectators as Mohawks ran rings round them.
Captain Neil Hopper led his side’s enthusiastic charge into the session with a two, and was followed by the first of Swaine’s four threes and the now-familiar one handed slam dunk from Ralph Bucci.
Some of Mohawks’ work was just stunning to watch. Over the next eight minutes there was an impressive array of moves in the side’s arsenal including excellent defensive blocks from Perkins and Paul Connery: one handed slam dunks from Harrison: interceptions by Swaine: steals by Steve Butler: superb rebounding from Hopper: ally oops from Perkins: pinpoint accurate endline throw-ins from Swaine and lightning fast offensive team breaks that Pumas simply had no answer to. The best they could muster was a five point run from Shaun Gray and Mark Quashie in the eighth minute. And Mohawks response to that was a 16-2 run to see out the half.The early exchanges of the second half gave the impression that more of the same was on the cards. But unlike the first half, players were not in the positions to pick up quite as many of the rebounds and were becoming a little unhappy with themselves, although they still won the third quarter by ten points (36-26) to enjoy a 47 point lead with ten minutes still to play.
Sutton might have thought that Mohawks were going to go a little easier when coach Hanson sat out his star men for the final session. But Hanson was forced to re-introduce Swaine for a tired Stonebridge in the third minute, followed by Bucci and Harrison after first Nicholson and then Hopper, fouled out of the game.
Butler hit 10 points in the quarter, while Harrison provided a lighter moment when missing two consecutive easy lay-ups to the amusement of his team-mates.
Against different opposition and on a different day, 82 points and five players scoring double figures could have won the game, which is something Pumas will cling on to for their visit to Eston for Saturday’s return fixture.
But the rest of the division really should worry that such an easy victory was achieved with a patched up squad due to a growing sick list.
Pete Knechtel was unable to take his place in the line-up after failing to recover from the deadleg suffered during the recent win at Plymouth, while Lijah Perkins, James Nicholson and Steve Butler all played while carrying injuries. Jon Stonebridge made his long-awaited return after being told by specialists that he has now developed arthritis in his injured ankle.
While the club must wait until the weekend to see Mohawks mathematically secure the title, there were wild celebrations on Sunday after the Middlesbrough College side picked up the U-20’s National Cup by defeating London Towers 113-85 at Nottingham’s Jesse Boot Arena.
But the side had to give second best in the National Shield final four hours later, when losing out 63-75 to Bristol.
Club boss Trevor Lowes described the weekend’s results as “Absolutely brilliant.” He added: “The Plymouth result has really handed the title to us on a plate now, but our result at Sutton was phenomenal when you think of all the injuries our players were carrying.
“And overall the Academy boys have done tremendously well to make two national finals in one season. They have worked tremendously hard all season so it was great to see them pick up one of the trophies.”
Kingston Wildcats (39) 96 Solent Stars (52) 92
It was another game of two halves at Tolworth Recreation Centre where Kingston came back from a 13 point half time deficit to beat Solent 96 - 92. This win moves Kingston back ahead of Manchester to the important fourth position in the league.
It was Kingston who set the pace early, jumping out to a 16 - 10 lead after 7 minutes. However a flurry of scoring by John Bynum and Marlin Capers got Solent back into the game and allowed the visitors to take a 27 - 25 lead into the second quarter. Bynum started the second quarter with the hot hand hitting Solent's first 5 points with out reply. Kingston meanwhile were struggling to find a way to break the Solent zone, and were unable to hit from long range. With Trevor Donaldson shooting well off the bench for Solent the Stars pulled an impressive 52 - 39 half time lead.
After the break the Wildcats came out like a different team.Kingston's player-coach Solomon Ayinla hit his first four three point shots and Chris Jeremiah was knifing through Solent's defence with ease. Kingston briefly regained the lead after an Ayinla three in the 10th minute, but four consecutive points from Bynum gave Solent a 71 - 68 lead going into the last quarter. Kingston stepped up the defensive intensity in the fourth period which resulted in some rushed shots and a 24 second violation by the Stars. The Wildcats moved ahead once again on an Andy Powlesland jump shot in the third minute.
With the game on the line Alan Hopper and Jeremiah kept hitting their fouls shots for the Wildcats, whilst Solent looked like they had ran out of steam. When Marlin Capers fouled out in the tenth minute Solent's hopes of a come back were effectively ended. Top scorer in the game was John Bynum with 30 points, and Marlin Capers hit 23 points. Chris Jeremiah had 28 points and 7 offensive rebounds, and Alan Hopper had 27 points for the Wildcats.
NBL Division One: Derbyshire Arrows 98 Ware Rebels 91
The Derbyshire Arrows remain on target for the Championship with a hard fought 98 - 91 victory over the Ware Rebels in front of another good crowd at the Queens Park Sports Centre. This improves the Arrows record to 17 – 2 and assures them of at least runners up spot in the Division this season.
The Arrows opened strongly with “Dunks” for Bevington & King and were always in control with their attacking brand of basketball, only Adnams with his drives to the basket kept the Arrows in sight as they had a 30 – 20 lead.
The second quarter saw King, Gayle & Bevington punch holes in the Rebels ranks and the Arrows had a decisive 54 – 36 interval advantage. The Arrows with Gayle, Davidson & Waite all prominent were able to extend this advantage in a closely contested third quarter, which closed with the Arrows ahead 77 – 55.
The fourth quarter saw a remarkable transformation in the last five minutes with the Arrows apparently cruising to victory at 93 – 71, however a rally by the Rebels with Prescott & Scott outstanding saw them close at 95 – 88 inside the last minute before Jamie Goodwin finished the game from the foul line.
HULL ICEBERGS 80 EALING TORNADOES 85
The Ealing Tornadoes extended their winning streak to 12 games with a hard fought victory over the Hull Icebergs.
A three from Hull's Karl Seamarks had the home team up early 5-2, but a 7-0 run by Ealing had them leading 9-5 half-way through the Quarter. The rest of the Quarter was dominated by three point shots. Three more from Seamarks and one from Miguel Canelo for Hull with Ealing replying with one of their own leaving the score 19-18 to the Icebergs at the end of the first Quarter.
Ealing started the second Quarter faster. A 7-0 run had the Tornadoes leading 27-23 with 5.00 left. After that the three point shots dominated once more. This time for Hull it was Tarryn Algar who hit three of them. The Tornadoes responded with four of their own. Algar also hit three free throws after being fouled with 5 seconds left to put his team up 41-39 at the Half.
Whatever was said in the Ealing Locker Room had the desired effect as they started with a 4-0 run to retake the lead 41-43. Another three from Seamarks put Hull back in front 44-43 with 8.40 left. Two more threes from the Tornadoes saw them in front again 49-48 with 6.20 to go. A 5-0 run by the Icebergs, including another three by Seamarks put Hull back in front 53-49. Back again came Ealing with a 7-0 run to lead 56-55. With 1.00 left Seamarks hit another three for the Icebergs to tie it up at 58. To finish the Quarter, Ealing went on a 4-0 run to lead 62-58 at the buzzer.
The three pointers continued to fly in the last Quarter. Algar and Canelo for Hull and one for Ealing had the Tornadoes leading 68-66 with 6.40 to go. Ealing then went on a decisive 5-0 run and as hard as they tried Hull could not get it back. Another three from the Tornadoes extended their lead to 73-67 with 5.00 left. The final three, however, went to Algar who hit for Hull with 2.6 seconds left to round off the game on a positive note for the Icebergs.
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