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NBL Review: Teesside claim a double           Round-Up NBL Trophy: Mohawks claim double win Ware Rebels 98-106 Teesside Mohawks Teesside Mohawks 95-88 Derbyshire Arrows Point guard EJ Harrison suggested that TVL Mohawks will need to adopt a more ruthless attitude if they are to keep up their winning ways.  Speaking after leading the side to the second of two victories in two days, and with it top spot in National Trophy pool B, American Harrison said:  “We’ve given up some good leads in the three games so far, so we’ve got to start coming out for the second half with some fire and crush teams from the tip off.  “At the moment we keep giving teams life by letting them get a couple of baskets and allowing them to get some rythm, then they start to play good.”  Fortunately for Mohawks, neither Ware Rebels nor Derbyshire Arrows had quite the firepower to make the most of the opportunities, and Tony Hanson’s side came away with four points and breathing a sigh of relief after keeping up their three year unbeaten record in the competition. But how the side was forced to battle for those victories.  Conference league newcomers Ware, who just a week earlier failed to muster even 60 points against the Derbyshire side, racked up 98 on their home court against Mohawks’ 108.  Steve Pilkington kicked off proceedings in Hertfordshire with a slam dunk from a Jason Swaine assist after Mohawks won the opening tip.  And consecutive threes from Swaine and Ralph Bucci, against a single three from Rebels’ Matt Clarkson, ensured that Mohawks’ got off to a good start. But home star Rodney Bryn Hussey, went on an unstoppable raid on Mohawks basket with 9 points in less than 90 seconds.  And with only a solitary basket from Pilkington breaking up that run, and 19-14 down, there were some worried expressions on the Teesside bench. A Ware timeout in the seventh minute, combined with a switch of Steve Butler and James Nicholson for Harrison and Jon Stonebridge, worked better for Mohawks, who took a 34-29 lead into the second quarter largely through 11 points each from Bucci and Swaine plus 8 from Pilkington. Harrison, who later admitted to being unhappy with his form, and Butler, took the game by the scruff of the neck on the restart and scored the side’s first 10 points between them.  But Hussey was a tower of strength for Rebels and with five of his own stubbornly refused to let the lead get beyond 10 points.  A lead of only 8 points (56-48) at half time was way short of expectations. But Mohawks atoned by storming out of the blocks for the second half and trebled that lead to 24 within six minutes, with Bucci, Harrison and the seventh of Swaine’s 8 ‘threes’ giving the match the sort of scoreline that most envisaged. The home side still weren’t fazed by the size of the task and over the last minute of the third quarter pulled 6 of those points back. A three from Nicholson with less than three minutes on the clock put the result beyond doubt.  And it is probably just as well, because Mohawks’ scoring all but dried up while Rebels went on a late rampage to put 18 on their scoreboard, while only Swaine, with his eighth three of the night, could get anywhere near the basket for Mohawks.  Steve Pilkington, who is proving to be a top-notch signing by the club, was top of the first quarter shooters against Derbyshire with 10 points as the side entered the first break 34-20 to the good. Arrows’ David Waite got the second quarter scoring underway on his way to scoring 8 of his side’s first 10 points, but it was Mohawks, through Harrison, Pilkington, Bucci and Nicholson who got off to the better start and saw their lead extended to 20 within three minutes. EJ Harrison led all-scorers for the session with 12 as the home side went into the half time break with a comfortable and apparently unassailable 24 point lead (62-38). But with three minutes of the third quarter still to play, and that same 24 point advantage intact, the game was about to turn on its head.  Adrian Anderson started an amazing Derbyshire fightback by converting a free throw to complete a three point play following a foul by Bucci.  And with only a basket from Bucci himself and two free throws from Swaine over the remainder of the session, Adrian Anderson and Jeff Bevington, backed up by a three pointer from Danny Richards, went on a scoring spree to haul back 13 of those points.  And the clawback did not finish there. Eight-man Mohawks, clearly now running out of steam, could not buy a basket for the first six minutes of the final quarter and found themselves under siege by the visitors straight from the tip off. A rare timeout by head coach Hanson as early as the third minute failed to turn things around, and a minute later Derbyshire player coach Garnet Gayle took full advantage of a technical foul called on Jon Stonebridge to sink the free throw and send Anderson on to score a basket from the possession gained to level the game at 81-81. A point behind with a minute on the clock and it really did look as though the game was slipping away from Mohawks until Swaine set up Pilkington for a basket to go one ahead again at 89-88.  Mohawks took advantage of a final Derbyshire timeout to ready themselves for a final 45 second blitz.  But the visitors methodology served only to play into Mohawks hands. A series of five consecutive fouls saw Bucci, Harrison and Swaine all go to the line for free throws, where they scored 6 out of 10, while Arrows failed to convert their only two attacks to finally surrender. Jon Stonebridge was one of three players ejected over the final three minutes of the game.  Joining him were Arrows’ Waite and Kingsley Ellmer. Top-scorer Harrison finished.   “I don’t look to get the highest score - I look to get my teammates involved and winning the game.  I was happy we won, but not happy with the way we played in the second half.  “But showed some guts, did what we had to do over the last two minutes and came out on top.”   Solent 79-98 London United Saturday saw London United Basketball Club travel its first away game to Conference giants Solent Stars in the National Trophy competition. After starting well in the Trophy London United were very confident of a road trip win, and travelled feeling positive. Solent are a club that are steeped in Basketball history, however with the retirement of Ex London Towers Alan Cunningham and the injury to Mark Scott they have been relying heavily this season on young English talent. London United are also reliant on young talent, however the gap between the two was evident on Saturday at Fleming Park Leisure centre. Infront of Solents home crowd United started brightly with Steve Vear nailing the first two long range three pointers whilst these were replied by Mark “Action” Jackson of Solent. Jackson is a new recruit from Brighton who play at the country's highest level in the BBL. United played their consistently pressing game applying defensive pressure three quarters way up the court. This made Solent turn the ball over on numerous occasions giving United easy break points. Walid Mumuni and Donal Hockey contributed to the defensive pressure by playing very aggressively. Pete Deppish scored well from the 3 point line and was always a constant threat on the offensive end. Sammy Rahman at 6ft 6” plays taller than he is and commands respect because of his incredible ability to hustle at both ends of the court.  Assistant coach Dave Schiller says “ I have never seen a youngster of his age be so aggressive on the offensive and defensive boards, I am not surprised so many people know about his talent” Contributions from Tom Hull, Tayo Odulaja and Alex Kitipis saw United take a steady lead through the game and ended up winning by a very comfortable 19 points. Pete Deppish top scored with 28 points, Sammy Rahman 19 points  On the following day United entered into a four team London based tournament at Westminster Warriors sponsored by clothing company And One. The United team beat East Londons White heat by three points and overcame the home and hosting club Westminster to win the tournament by 4 points.   Click here to discuss this story

 

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