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NBL Review: Play-off picture clearer
NBL Conference: Teesside 119 Manchester 96
Conference League champions TVL Mohawks extended their winning sequence to 8 games by defeating visitors Manchester Magic for the fifth time this season on a big day of basketball at Eston Sports Academy.
The bill also saw Middlesbrough College Academy bring their division two north campaign to a close with a 20 point win over Nottingham, while Teesside Ladies took to the court for a charity match against Sassari’s Restaurant, which formed part of the launch of the new Focus Hope charity.
Despite arriving with a squad missing three of their regular squad - Matt Hogarth, Jon Linsley and Sean McKie – Magic made Mohawks work hard to gain a real hold on the game and were still in it until a decisive breakaway in the third quarter.
When the Eston side did find the right combination it was bench players James Nicholson and Steve Butler who made the most of the opportunity to carve out crucial and timely big scores. Nicholson added 16 second half points to his 3 of the first half for a 19 point return, while Butler top-scored for the side with 25 points after picking up just 2 in the first half as he put in a blistering second 20 minutes.
And it was just the sort of performance that Butler enjoyed. He said: “That was a good second half. Tony [Hanson] asked me to put some tempo in the defence and I got a few early lay-ups that got my confidence going, which helped me hit a few more shots.”
Few expected Mohawks to be taking only a 6 point lead into the interval, but head coach Hanson said his side was not firing on all cylinders before the interval. “We were going through the motions in the first half and only doing just enough to keep the lead,” he said. “But when I asked them to step it up a bit, it was a different story.”
Manchester’s Wayne Mulgrave took the top-scorer’s accolade with 27 points and was given sound backing by his captain, Kevin St Kitts, who posted 22.
But it was Mohawks ability to get five or more players scoring good double figures that ultimately won through. Ralph Bucci added 22 and EJ Harrison 17, while Lijah Perkins picked up 13. Jason Swaine would surely have joined these had he not withdrawn from the game in the third quarter after taking a knock to an ankle. He finished with 9.
Magic looked down-and-out as early as the ninth minute after ‘threes’ by Harrison and Swaine put the side 10 ahead. And a bright start to the second session, which saw the lead extended to 12 when Swaine and Butler picked up the first 4 points, to add to the visitors’ woes.
Ralph Bucci stood out for his second quarter contribution of 11 points – the next best was three each from Nicholson and assistant coach Paul Douglas, who found himself called up for his home playing debut to compensate for the continued absence of Pete Knechtel and Dennis Ley.
Magic took advantage of this lull to win the session by two (26-24), with Mulgrave particularly effective at drawing fouls. His seven points included five out of five from the free throw line as he helped the side get as close as two points by the ninth minute before a 10 point rally from Bucci, Douglas and Nicholson created a welcome 6 point cushion to start the second half.
Butler found himself in the starting line-up for the third quarter as Hanson looked to protect skipper Neil Hopper, who was already on three fouls. It was a switch that turned the game.
St Kitts started the scoring with a ‘three’ after Magic won the tip off. But a tough new defensive strategy saw Mohawks pick up a clutch of interceptions and race down court to sink 8 points in reply. Among them was one of Perkins’ crowd-pleasing slam dunks after his side turned over a Magic sideline ball and the referee lay prostrate following a collision with a Manchester player.
A brief fightback by the visitors saw the lead reduced to 7 by the third minute, but a 10-0 burst over the next two minutes effectively rendered the league points safe as Mohawks enjoyed a series of fast breaks.
An 18 point lead for Mohawks at the start of the final period was turned into 28 point advantage by the sixth minute courtesy of a 19-9 run, including a superb 9 from Nicholson. The best that Manchester could offer in return was a 6-0 run in the eighth minute. And this was adequately cancelled out by a similar response from Butler and Jon Stonebridge after Butler and James Jones traded ‘threes’.
Mohawks’ final league fixture of the campaign is on Sunday against Reading Rockets, whose 10 point win over Sutton at the weekend guarantees them seventh place in the division. That leaves struggling InterBasket the mammoth task of meeting Mohawks over two legs in the Championship Play Off quarter final. The first leg is in London on April 20, with the second leg at Eston a week later on the 28th.
Solent 96 Coventry 85
Solent Stars ensured themselves a third placed finish in the NBL Conference but were made to toil by bottom placed Coventry before taking a 96-85 win.
Two baskets by Trevor Donaldson in the last thirty seconds of the first quarter enabled Solent Stars to steal a march on their visitors, Coventry Crusaders, to gain a five point lead at the end of
the quarter (26 - 21). Both teams had squandered chances in an error-strewn first period when Solent should have opened up a bigger gap than the four point lead that they held almost throughout until Coventry edged ahead (20 - 21) in the last minute.The second quarter provided the home supporters with miserable fare as Solent put in a completely inept performance and were only able to muster 13 points against the league's basement club. John Bynum was unusually quiet, only scoring seven points in the first half.
Halfway through the quarter, Marlin Capers picked up his third foul and once he was substituted Solent's points scoring dried up even more. With both Alan Cunningham and Mark Scott sitting out the first half, no one was able to pick up the tempo of the Solent game and it was left to the spectators to try and instil more effort into the home squad's play. In fact, Solent added no points in the last two minutes as Coventry came from behind to take a two point half time lead. (39 - 41)On two separate occasions it was Trevor Donaldson three pointers that gave Solent more confidence and resulted in the home team opening a more comfortable lead by the seventh minute (61 - 49). With 3.20 on the clock remaining in the third quarter, the not-fully-fit Alan Cunningham entered the game for the first time. Almost immediately there was a jostling for rebound positions that involved several players and resulted with Cunningham being pushed to the floor as he left the ground for the rebound. On regaining his feet Cunningham followed Coventry's Matt Collins downcourt. After the pair tangled, referee Trevor Funnell called a disqualifying foul on Cunningham who had been in the game less than 90 seconds. No foul had been called on Collins. This incident served to spur Solent into more scoring action as Bynum and Capers helped them to their largest lead (67 - 52) before Coventry scored three unanswered points at the end.
Seven three pointers in the last quarter by Coventry briefly threatened Solent's superiority, especially when early on Drew Barrett scored two of them in quick succession. Nic OHarabe replied in like kind to help keep Solent on course.
Kingston Wildcats 95 Inter Basket London 69
In Kingston's last home game of the season the Wildcats were looking for a win to help consolidate
4th place in the league and it came courtest of a 95-69 defeat of InterBasket. The Londoners badly needed victory in their quest for a place in the end of season play-offs but a woefully poor start against the hot shooting Wildcats meant they were never really in the match.It was Kingston who came out firing on all cylinders with early three pointers from Andy Powlesland, Alan Hopper and Mark Poynton. Inter Basket meanwhile struggled to score over bigger defenders, with only Laurent Irish playing with an confidence on offence.
With a 17 - 4 lead after five minutes the Wildcats had started well, but an 11 - 0 run put them firmly in the driving seat. Two shot clock violations by Inter Basket compounded their 2 for 13 shooting to
leave them trailing 30 - 8 at the end of the first quarter.Kingston started the second period as they did the first, with a three pointer, this time by Mark
Bottiglia. Frank Batimba came to life for Inter Basket in this quarter, leading by example at both
ends of the court. With just over three minutes to go in the half the usually low scoring Kingston
had racked up a 50 - 17 lead, leaving Inter Basket a mountain to climb if they were to get back into
the game. A spurt by the visitors in the last few minutes of the half, left the score at 54 - 25 at
the interval.Inter Basket came our looking like a new team in the second half. They notched up the first seven
points of the half unanswered and their full court press managed to disrupt the Wildcats offence,
and force hurried shots. Grant Ebanja hit two threes in the quarter and with Batimba scoring from
inside and out, Inter Basket pulled to 65 - 48 at the end of the third quarter.The Inter Basket resurgence prompted Kingston's player coach Solomon Ayinla to step into the game for the first time at the beginning of the fourth period. His leadership was immediately evident as he hit three three pointers and handed out three assists. Meanwhile Ebanja continued to have the hot hand for Inter Basket, hitting shots from all over the court, on his way to a game high 24 points. After Ayinla stamped his authority on the game the result was never in doubt and Kingston ran out winners 95 - 69. Kingston were led by Hopper and Jeremiah both on 19 points, Ebanja with 24 and Batimba with 17 points led the Inter Basket scoring.
Reading Rockets 103 Sutton Pumas 93
Reading Rockets secured 7th place in the NBL Conference and a quarter final two legged tie against Plymouth Raiders in the Play-Offs, with a comfortable victory over Sutton Pumas. Damon Cooper found his best form of the season top scoring with 24 points, which included six three point
scores, and he was supported in no small measure by a very solid overall team performance, "We were always in control of this game and played some excellent basketball in spells" commented Head Coach Dave Titmuss.Rockets Ian Durrant was in the thick of things at the start of the game, opening his account with a nice jump shot for two points, making a great block, scoring two from two at the line having been fouled and making two more points with a lay up after some good work by Cooper. Adam
Kelly, Rockets Player of the Month for March, scored easily with his immaculate shooting technique, John Hodds turned 360 degrees and made two and Ted Smith made a strong drive to the basket and scored two more. Matt Johnson, replacing Durrant, made a clever steal and scored two and Adam Kelly scored two on the break for a Rockets 16-13 lead. Rockets momentarily lost concentration and squandered possession allowing Sutton to take the lead but they soon rectified the situation as Matt Eames made a steal enabling Johnson to make a lay up and Eames himself then made one from two at the line to level the scores at 19 each with just over a minute and a half remaining. Eames then made a tricky jump shot and Johnson another steal giving Cooper two easy points. Johnson, showing great form found Cooper he made a massive three pointer to give
Rockets a first quarter lead of 26-21.Adam Kelly was fouled almost straight from the tip off of the second quarter and he made both shots from the free throw line and Cooper made another long three. Johnson and Cooper combined well to add two more and York found Hodds with a pin point pass for him to make an easy two. Rockets appeared to be in complete control as Sutton had no answer to the superior work rate, technique and control of the Rockets players. Inevitably Sutton took a time out 37-23 down and having only scored two points in the opening four minutes. Rockets continued to move the ball well and create scoring opportunities but their defense was not quite its usual self. Having said that they were comfortably on top at half time 57-41 with really getting into top gear.
The Sutton players had clearly received some motivational comments during the half time interval as they started the third quarter with a 6-3 run. The Rockets three came from Cooper who just couldn't miss. Johnson and Cooper continued to cause Sutton all sorts of problems and
as though that wasn't enough Hodds was deadly around the basket turning brilliantly and using great skill and strength to score. Johnson took a crushing charge as Rockets increased their lead to 72-55 after another Cooper three with four minutes of the quarter remaining. Rockets almost
in cruise mode even managed to score when Bristol passed to Hodds whilst lying on the floor and he made the lay up for a 81-58 Rockets lead going into the final quarter.Rockets quite noticeably took their foot off the accelerator in the last quarter allowing Sutton to win it 35-22, but the game was already won for Rockets. Eames was fouled out with eight minutes remaining, Smith made a very long three after a good passing move and fittingly man of
the match Cooper scored a three to register the host's 100th point of the game. The remaining moments became rather scrappy and John Hodds was fouled out with just over a minute to go after an excellent performance. Ted Smith made two from two at the line to give Rockets the victory at 103-93.
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