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Trophy kings Teesside make it four-peat
NBL Men's Trophy Final (Sheffield Arena)
TLS Teesside Mohawks (27, 51, 69) 99 (Harrison 29, Bucci 19, Swaine 15)
Worthing Thunder (14, 36, 52) 77 (Mundy-Castle 30, Hampton/Moore 16)Just two weeks ago the Mohawks and Thunder fought out a thrilling overtime battle in Middlesbrough, in which the home side only just retained their unbeaten record, with a 2 point victory. All the pundits, therefore, predicted a close contest in this Final, with three-times Trophy Winners Teesside declaring themselves the underdogs.
In the event, Teesside’s greater experience of the big occasion enabled them to take control of the Final from an early stage, with a combination of intense defence, good ball movement and accurate shooting.
Both sides began slowly, with Worthing opening the scoring, but from 4-all the Mohawks got into their stride. A 6-0 run put them ahead, and with EJ Harrison outstanding they pulled away to a 21-8 lead, with two minutes to play in the quarter, and with both Dennis Ley and Steve Butler hitting a “3”, they closed the period 27-14 to the good.
There was more of the same in the second quarter, as the holders kept up the pressure, to lead at one stage by as many as twenty-two points, 43-21. Worthing fought back, to 51-36 by the end of the quarter, but the half-time stats showed the clear difference between the teams – “points off turnovers – Teesside 23, Worthing 0”.
The Mohawks took their collective foot off the throttle in the third quarter, to hold their lead, at 69-52, but in the final period they pulled away again, to their biggest lead, 84-59, with a 12-0 run around the middle of the quarter.
Teesside thus extended their stewardship of this title to four years, as they proved themselves to be the team to beat this season.
For Dennis Ley it was a fifth successful foray in the Trophy Final, which he won with Richmond the year before Teesside’s first success. For others of the Mohawks, including coach Tony Hanson, who was still a player when they won it for the first time, it was a fourth individual success; Steve Butler, Ralph Bucci and captain Neil Hopper all now have four consecutive winners’ medals for the Mohawks.
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