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Hackney cold in Conference basement               NBL Round-Up NBL Conference: Hackney 70 Reading 79 Hackney White Heat entertained Reading Rockets at the Space Centre on Saturday but a 79-70 loss still leaves the Londoner looking for that elusive first league victory of the season.  It was the visitors who made the brighter start, opening a 15-3 lead after 6 minutes as poor shot selection from the home side gave Reading some easy scoring opportunities.  With new American player Jermaine Williams making his presence felt at both ends of the court, a rout seemed possible.  But slowly the East London team started to make their way back into the match, with Grant Ebanja finding his scoring touch.  The introduction of John Hodds settled the Berkshire team, and with the 6' 10" centre contributing 7 of his teams last 10 points of the quarter, Rockets lead 25-15 at the first interval. But White Heat continued to chip away at the lead.  With 15 year old wonder boy Paul Guede once again a major influence, the scoreline was down to 34-37  with three minutes remaining in the second quarter despite a picturesque alley-oop dunk from Williams.  Hackney's composure seemed to desert them as  Reading made an 8-2 run before late scores from Damien Modeste and Guede left the match at 41-46 at the half time interval. The third quarter saw the home side with the first two scores to reduce the margin to one, before a 6-0 run restored Reading's initiative.  However the vagaries of the officiating meant that Rocket's Ted Smith was already sitting out with four fouls as well as Modeste for Hackney.  An Ebanja three-pointer  brought the margin back to two, but Hackney could never make good shot selections each time they got within touching range.  Four more points from Williams and a steal and score from Damon Cooper made it an 8 point game again and although an unusually subdued Perry Lawson hit a pair of foul shots Reading held a 62-56 lead going into the final stanza. When Franck Batimba and Lawson hit the first four points of the last period, a close match seemed likely.  But 10 unanswered points, including a Lloyd  Gardner score as the shot clock ran down, gave the visitors a lead that could not be answered.  Despite 6 late points from Guede, the margin was never reduced below double figures until the final seconds.  The only matters to note in the last two minutes were a third three-pointer from Cooper following which the diminutive guard was fouled three times by Hackney players on a drive to the basket only to be called for a charging foul.  Still, at least he got the win. For Hackney young Master Guede lead the way with 17 followed by Ebanja and Marson with 11.  For Reading Hodds 14 and Cooper 13 had made good  contributions but it was Jermaine Williams, newly out of Louisiana State, who was outstanding with 31.   Oxford 111 Manchester 91 Manchester Magic travelled to Oxford on Saturday and were soon in trouble against a Devils side who made nearly every shot they took, both in open play and from the free throw line in gaining a simple win.  In contrast, the Magic were woeful in their shooting, even missing apparently easy lay-ups and poor by their standards from the line.  They also turned the ball over far too often.  By half-time they were 30 points down and the game was effectively over, but they  showed some character in pulling back to within 8 points with a minute to go, only to see their opponents increase their lead before the end. The game ended 111-91 to Oxford. The players had no excuses and know what must be done if they are to maintain their drive for a good final position in the table. It would be a poor weekend for everyone if the home team did not have a presence in the Conference play-offs.      Reading Rockets 86 Teesside Mohawks 94 Rockets came very close yet again to defeating last seasons National Conference and Trophy Champions but lapses in concentration and the loss of Captain Ted Smith (fouled out) in the fourth quarter cost them dearly after they had produced their best basketball of the season in the third quarter. Head Coach Matt Johnson was naturally disappointed "We seemed to freeze in the last quarter and were punished accordingly". Teesside had the better of the first quarter and took an early 11- 4 lead as after some good work by John Hodds Rockets gave away valuable possession which their opponents inevitably turned into points. The opening exchanges were at lightening pace and had it not been for some determined defense, the eadership of Ted Smith and the shooting skills of Jermaine Williams Rockets first quarter deficit could have been much greater, but at 25-17 down they were still in the game. Rockets started the second quarter well with some incisive moves and crisp passing that enabled Williams to add to his tally. Smith, Hodds and Pem Bristol all had to be at their best as the unrelenting Teesside offense were determined to break the Rockets spirit. Coach Johnson took a time out at 37-28 down and five minutes remaining and Rockets came back on court re-invigorated with Smith, Hodds and Gardner scoring quickly and Williams producing an inspirational block. This together with some really tough defending enabled Rockets to reduce their deficit to just three points at 44-41 going into the half time interval. Jermaine Williams scored right from the tip off of the third quarter and almost immediately Pem Bristol, having regained possession thanks to some brilliant defending, drove to the basket only to be fouled however he made both shots from the line. John Hodds with some great footwork then scored four points in quick succession for Rockets to take the lead for the first time in the game. Bristol made a great rebound to score two more and Williams with his silky smooth shooting made two jump shots for a 57-48 Rockets lead. After a marvelous period of play of superb intensity by Rockets a Teesside time out was not unexpected. On the resumption Smith suffered from inconsistent refereeing when a blatant foul was not called. ristol, with his best performance of the season, made an amazing defensive block and secon ds later made a controlled lay up after a fast break and Coach Johnson took a time out with Rockets seemingly in control at 59-48. There are very good reasons why Teesside have been so successful, they are not easily rattled, seem unconcerned at falling behind in a game and  apparently have several gears to select as and when required and in the last two minutes of the quarter they showed all of these qualities. Rockets, on team fouls and on the receiving end of some questionable refereeing fought on in determined fashion to stay ahead and in the process produced some superb basketball. The home support was very optimistic going into the final quarter with Rockets 67-60 ahead. Unfortunately disaster struck almost immediately for Rockets when Smith was fouled out and Teesside made three points from the line. Rockets then squandered possession and Teesside Captain Jason Swaine made a three point score having had a relatively quiet game up to that point. The away side then scored again without reply to regain the lead at 68-67. Worse was to come as Teesside scored another three pointer and Rockets ran out of time on their next possession and this prompted a Rockets time out at 71-67 to Teesside. There was encouragement for the home support on the restart when Damon Cooper scored a superb three and Williams made an easy lay up, Cooper then made another three and Williams a clever and athletic block to cut the deficit to two points. Arguably the turning point in the game came when after Hodds had missed two from the line Adam Kelly took a crushing, blatant and obvious charging foul right in front of the referees. But Teesside were the beneficiaries of the decision and it seemed to spur them on and they very quickly increased their lead to seven points. Despite some last minute determination from Hodds, Williams and Cooper, the game got away from Rockets and Teesside once again returned to the North East victorious at 94-86.   Division One: Black Country Bears 69 London United 87 London United travelled to the Black Country to play opponents Black Country Bears who are new to Division One this season. United were still under strength without Gary Maitland and Ian Burrell but still possesed enough talent and scoring to claim a valuable win. The game started as London would have liked with them taking an early lead although very quickly Bears surprised London by scoring a number of breakaway baskets through Carlos White. London were not expecting Bears to be able to break as quickly as they did and subsequently paid special attention to the long pass tactic. Very quickly London got into stride with Walid Mumuni proving an offensive threat along with Sammy Rahman. Surprisingly Pete Deppisch was off colour and only chipped in with 3 first half points as United took a 6 point half time lead. Carlos White proved to be the thorn in United’s side by hitting two last minute three pointers to keep them in the game. In the third quarter London’s guard Tom Hull steeped up an penetrated well to the basket scoring a quick succession of lay ups and also hitting two three’s. The young capped England hopeful played his best game for London by making good decisions and creating scoring opportunities for himself. Sammy Rahman continued to score inside as did Walid and Tayo Odulaja with a succession of fast break lay ups and dunks and two big three’s off of out of bounds play’s. In the last quarter the London team broke the Bears back by continuing to push the ball up court at speed and execute well. This took them into an unassailable lead of 18 points and finished up the better team. Coached Majewski and Schiller were happy with the win and were more happy at the spread of scoring whilst main scorer Pete Deppisch had an off day with only 6 points. Rahman and Hull topped with 18 each, whilst Mumuni had 16 and Odulaja had 14.         Click here to discuss this story

 

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