RESULTS SERVICE

N.B.L. DIVISION 1 MATCH REPORTS

Clubs' reports from the men's N.B.L. Division 1, in reverse date order. 

NBL DIVISION 1  09/03/03

United face disappointment after poor weekend 

London United were upbeat on Friday about the coming weekend with a double header, travelling to Mansfield on Saturday and facing Bath at home on Sunday. 

London needed to win both games to be sure of securing second place in he NBL Division One race. With the league already won on Saturday by Derbyshire Arrows all was to play for, for the chasing pack. With results going London's way they could qualify for 2^nd spot. 

This was not to be for the young Londoners as they lost both games in very close fought matches with the Mansfield game going to overtime after a 79-79 regulation score and having the chance to win with possession and 11 seconds on the clock as point guard Steve Vear took the last shot which rimmed out. The game went to overtime and with some questionable refereeing decisions at crucial times the game was lost as Mansfield’s physical style of play paid dividends winning 93-87

Then with Bath having their own agenda to finish in second spot another close game saw London have the chance to win again with 23 seconds on the clock and once again Steve Vear’s three point effort fell just short to deny the Londoners victory. Bath with their superior size and physical presence took the game with free throws as United tried to foul to change the game around. It finished 84-89 to the Bath outfit.

This weekend leaves United in 5^th position with one remaining league game against Bath away on Saturday evening. Depending on results next week London are likely to be drawn away in the playoff quarter finals on the 29^th March against who ever finishes in 4^th position, currently Westminster Warriors. 

London United Line up: Deppisch, Hockey, Vear, Mumuni, Jacobs, Hull, Maitland, Odulaja, Fraser and Ibegibe

Coaches : Majewski and Schiller

NBL DIVISION 1  09/03/03

AN UNQUALIFIED SUCCESS
Well it was a long time coming but it was worth the wait. The BEARS recorded only their second victory this season and their first in their new home at the Crystal Leisure Centre when they beat second in the table Westminster Warriors 66-64.

In a hard fought contest right from the start the BEARS  showed that they were not prepared to be itimidated by the big dark destroyers from London and it was ROBIN HALL one of the smaller men on court who did the greatest damage as he drove to the visitors net to record 6 points from lay-ups and 7 out of 7 from the line following hefty fouling by the Londoners.

WAYNE ROBINSON  added another 6 points as the BEARS dominated the quarter to lead 21 - 14. The second quarter saw the visitors strong arm tactics come into play and with their superior height , weight and muscle, they began to claw back the deficit led by the leaping Ajufo but another 6 points from Robinson and two big threes from CARL WHITE kept the BEARS  ahead at the break 33-30.

At the start of the third quarter the constant pressure from forwards going over the top of BEARS  defenders began to tell.  But, thanks to another of the smaller guys, CARL WELBORN, who made three amazing steals, the BEARS  did not wilt under pressure and  come the end of the quarter the game was tied at 54 points each.

The last period saw some hectic play from both sides and with ALVIN SCOTT matching the visitors height with some timely rebounds at the visitors basket, supported by HARRY MAKOUANGOU, DEAN BLAKE AND WAYNE ROBINSON in defence pulling down rebounds under great physical pressure from the visitors it was no surprise to see two of the Warriors fouled out.

Leading by 5 points as they entered the last minute the BEARS  were rocked by a quick four points from Ajufo to leave the game hanging on a thread with only a few seconds to go. Anxious to get the ball the visitors fouled MIKE LANDELL with only three seconds left and upon hitting 1 of 2 from the line, the visitors were left with no time to respond and the BEARS had made their first home victory.

Bears Leading Scorers  ROBINSON 15, HALL 12,SCOTT 9  WHITE 9. 

THE BEARS  end their season at home against table topping and repeating champions DERBYSHIRE ARROWS at 4pm on SUNDAY MARCH 16TH in what could be billed as the "gulf" war given the respective league positions of the two teams.

NBL DIVISION 1 01/03/03

London United get back to winning ways

London United 109 Worcester Wolves 81

London United desperately needed to up the tempo after a horrific losing streak and the task against Worcester was not going to be an easy one after losing centre Steve Jacobs and guard Gary Maitland to injury during the week.

Assistant Coach Dave Schiller took the wheels whilst head coach Jack Majewski was running the show for the under 18’s in a vital game against Ware Rebels. 

Dave had a hard job to focus the team on work rate as that’s what has been lacking recently from their performances. However from the tip off the team looked “up for it” and Pete Deppisch hit his first three point shot from long range off of well constructed offences.

The organisation of the team looked much more solid after a week of going back to basics in practice.

Pete Deppisch hit 10 first quarter points for London to take a lead of 30-20.

Tayo Odulaja started to hit from long range helping to open up the Worcester defence whilst taking 5 first half steals from his constant hustle at the defensive end. 

The team concept appeared to be back with London, shifting the ball well off of set plays and with the confidence physically appearing again. Dave switched defences regularly on the Wolves team applying more and more pressure with the Worcester team turning the ball over four times in a 1 minute period. At the half London lead by 15.

The theme of high intensity continued throughout the second half with every player contributing at both ends of the floor. Steve Vear controlled the point whilst Walid, Tayo and Pete did the offensive damage. Chiverton and Cooprinder scored 17 and 14 respectively for Wolves well below there averages, proving how well London shut down in defence.

Donal Hockey worked tirelessly for the team not allowing Worcester’s big men to do any damage inside the paint. The game finished with London taking a well deserved 28 point win, and with high intensity the team looked like they may be hitting form again at a crucial time in the season. London have set their targets to finish 2^nd in the Division One table and have to rely on other results for this to happen, as well as winning their remaining 3 games against Mansfield on Saturday and two games against Bath.

London play Bath at home on Sunday 9^th March. The game is to be played at the Osterley site in Wood lane with a 4pm tip off. Entrance £3 seniors £1 juniors under 18.

London United scoring: Hockey 11, Deppisch 27, Mumuni 17, Vear 17, Odulaja 21, Fraser 5, Burrell 2, Mcnally 0, Hull 9.

NBL DIVISION 1 22/02/03

London United lose to North West London

Coaches Jack Majewski and Dave Schiller left Willesden sports centre on Saturday absolutely fuming at how their team can go from looking like possible Division One Champions to a very average 5^th place team that seems to be on a downward spiral. London United as a Club started the season after Ealing Tornados and North London Lords merged taking the best talent from both Clubs remaining players.

The team looked like they were going to create a real title challenge with the outside presence of players like Pete Deppisch and the inside ability and hustle of young Sammy Rahman after beating favourites Derbyshire Arrows going on a pre Christmas run of 6 and 1.

Sammy left United in January leaving for Division 2 College CAL in the States to realise his basketball potential leaving United without a real inside player who brings incredible intensity on the court.

“We have really been caught short with Sammy leaving us, and now see that we have very little in the way of intensity from the current players, they are predominantly young and have not been taking control of their own destiny” says Schiller.

“Jack has been very down about our performances and he is not used to this kind of losing streak, he is used to being part of a winning team and this situation is alien to him, we feel it is really down to the players to show that they have some competitiveness left, we can only do so much in practice”

“Our Club has been working hard to get everything right off the court so we can move into the Conference League next season, we have a great academy for young players starting at 11 years of age and the kids are improving every day. We also have the chance to move onwards and upwards with a new facility currently in the design process at Brunel University in Uxbridge. But we need to get the men’s team winning again”

“Displays like this one at North West London are not tolerable, they worked hard for their win and showed fighting spirit and deserved the win, we just didn’t!”

The final score was 84-75 and although the game was down to 3 points with 2 minutes remaining Malik Jivens hit a deep three for North West to seal victory.

London United take on Worcester Wolves at Brunel University on Saturday 1^st march tip off at 6pm.

NBL DIVISION 1 15/02/03

London United 103 Black Country Bears 84

London United broke their 3 game losing streak against lowly Black Country Bears from the Midlands at home on Saturday evening.

After sinking from 1^st to 4^th place in Division One of the National League, due to some poor post New Year displays the team managed to get back on track with a relatively easy game compared to last weeks road trip loss to table toppers Derbyshire Arrows.

London never really looked like they would do anything other than win against a team that was promoted as champions of Division Two last season who have only won one game all season. The Midlands team are comprised of a few veterans of the BBL like Tony Simms who is still a scoring threat although the London Teams average age is 23 which made them a faster and fitter team than their opponents.

In the first quarter London took an immediate lead of 25-18 with Pete Deppisch knocking down two three pointers trying to shoot his way out of the poor run of form he has experienced in recent weeks. Tom Hull and Anton Fraser also hitting long rang efforts.

In the second quarter new signing centre Steve Jacobs came to life for United nailing the first three baskets finishing the quarter with 10 points and sweeping the boards with 5 rebounds, whilst Bears could only sit back in a zone due to their lack of depth in numbers only arriving with 5 players. Tony Simms kept Bears fairly close with 15 points of his own, whilst London took a ten point half time lead at 53-43.

The third and fourth quarters were pretty much the same other than Bears making a late rally in the fourth to bring the game to nine points through Simms scoring inside. The challenge then petered out as London stepped up to finish the game easy victors by nineteen points at 103-84.

Pete Deppisch managed to retain his scoring touch with 23 points whilst Steve Jacobs and Tom Hull shared 2^nd top scoring with 16 each. “Steve contributed well tonight and showed us that he can also be an offensive threat inside the paint, whilst Tom seems to have regained some pre-New Year form that he lost so quickly contributing with 4 three pointers and solid defence.” Said coach Schiller.

London now face a tough test on Saturday away to NW London who seem to be in a rich vein of form. The game will take place at Willesden Sports centre at 4pm on Saturday 22^nd February. London then face Worcester at home (Brunel University) on the 1^st March tip at 6pm.

The under 17 clinics continue for London at Brunel University every Saturday at 3pm to 5 pm entrance £2.

London scoring: Deppisch 23, Hull 16, Jacobs 16, Mumuni 15, Burrell 12, Maitland 8, Odulaja 6,  Fraser 5, Vear 2, Izebige 0.

Coaches Majewski and Schiller.

NBL DIVISION 1 15/02/03

The Bear minimum

NBL DIVISION 1 09/02/03

GRIZZLY TIMES FOR BEARS

Well it certainly wasn’t a “classic” when The Mansfield Express stopped off at the Crystal Leisure Centre to take on the Black Country Bears last Sunday. The only saving grace was it wasn’t as bad as the second BBL Trophy Semi Final I had witnessed just 24 hours earlier at the Aston Events Centre and Manager/Secretary Bob Beaumont was away on holiday in Spain so the onus is on me relate the details of the Bears 12^th defeat in thirteen league outings this season.

The first quarter started poorly ………….. and then got progressively worse. Bears opened the scoring with a deuce but then it full 3 ½ minutes before the next score, which was a single free throw conversion, from Mansfield. The lack of confidence and self belief was painfully obvious from both teams who this season have found themselves languishing at the wrong end of the Division One table where wins are about as rare as a A+ for the referees from our Bob or rocking horse pooh. Mansfield effectively took control of the game and  ultimately the match with a 7-0 tear to establish the lead which they would never relinquish. After trading misses and the occasional score from the charity stripe the first quarter came to an end as Carl White failed to score with the last possession with Bears trailing by 5 points (13-18).

The second quarter was only marginally better than what had preceded and whilst counting the number of ‘bricks’ that had been thrown up someone commented that Bob the builder could have built someone a small extension!! Mansfield easily out rebounded the Bears at both ends of the court and scored on second phase to stretch their lead to double digits at one stage (20-30). Only Tony Simms seemed to be comfortable from the free throw line to increase  his own personal points tally and keep the Bears close. Then second half ended with Mansfield nudging further ahead much to the relief of player/coach Martin Ford now up by eleven points (29-40).

Following some strong words in the dressing room both teams emerged and started to play with a bit more intensity and composure. Robin Hall chipped in with a couple of fast break conversions as did Mike Landell with two treys from beyond the arc. But what ever the Bears produced was matched by Mansfield as Jones continued to score freely on his way to his 24 points haul in the game. A revitalised Bears effort was kept at arms length by some staunch defence as the 3^rd stanza ended Bears 52 pts and The Express 60 points.

Any chance of a comeback was lost as the 4^th quarter started with a whimper rather than a bang. It was over 2 minutes before Carl White registered a score for the home side whilst Mansfield took the air out of the ball running slow, deliberate well disciplined offences not putting up a shot until a considerable amount had run off the shot clock AND now the shots were going in to make things worse. Tony Simms was still knocking down free throws and although Alvin Scott, Clive Allen and Carl Welfield also made scoring contributions it was a case of “too little to late”. Jones continued to be the thorn in the Bears side powering to the iron and Mansfield ran out worthy winners on the day by fifteen points.

Final score                 Black Country Bears 70                  Mansfield Express 85.

NBL DIVISION 1 02/02/03

Arrows Make It TEN Straight Derby Victories with Rout

Derbyshire Arrows             119-55            Mansfield Express

 (38-14, 56-29 (18-15), 92-40 (36-11), 119-50 (27-15)) 

Who thought that when Express were 81-77 overtime victors in the Second Round of the National Shield on 21^st October 2000, in Alfreton – that they wouldn’t win another local derby in the subsequent ten ?

Not many, was probably the answer, but this is exactly what has occurred – and Arrows showed those present at Queen’s Park on Saturday exactly why the Chesterfield based outfit are hot favourites for the league title once again.

The scoreboard however doesn’t tend to lie, and make no mistake about it this was a truly awful display from the Express team, even against the league leaders. The final result of 119-55 doesn’t flatter Arrows in the slightest, and had Arrows not turned to exhibition style tactics in the final quarter, and stuck to the basics, the score line could have been heavier, closer to a margin of a ton.

None the less; it was Arrows that opened in the scoring in front of a crowd of around 250, through David Waite, with a simple finger roll – Dylan Bogg’s response however was a trademark three-pointer, soon followed by two Andrew Duncan lay ups – Express had an early lead at 7-4 at the end of the second minute, and a competitive match looked likely.

From here the game went totally beyond reach, as Arrows began a 20-2 blitz in five destructive minutes, all of which saw Arrows 24-9 ahead. Amongst that, as well as slack defending was a period of time where Express discipline went out the window, three technical fouls were issued – two to player coach Martin Ford (dissent and abuse of official), the other to court captain Dylan Bogg (dissent).

Arrows’ star Canadian, Jeff Bevington, hadn’t yet seemed to have caused many problems, and indeed only scored eight points in the first quarter, although that said when the hosts scored 38 (!) first quarter points, eight is a relatively small proportion – however this is an indication of how much of a team of all-round scorers Garnet Gayle has at his disposal.

Express went into the first break 38-14 behind, and bar some rare Arrows breakdown, this game was already over.

Compared to the first quarter, the second period was somewhat tighter, with Express going down by just three points 18-15. Pete Olusoga opening Express’ account with a three-pointer, the only real highlight in a foul ridden period which had little excitement to offer the Queen’s Park faithful.

Express went into the half time interval 56-29 behind, and Derbyshire needed to do little more to take the two points. As a matter of fact, the visitors weren’t going to reach, by full-time, their hosts’ half-time score, so dominant were Arrows, or so poor were Express from the floor.

The second half was very much the same story, Arrows were totally dominant and were never forced to break into a sweat by a lacklustre Express.

A major problem for the visitors was their floor shooting, and the third quarter was typical of this fact where in Express’ 11 points (to 38 for Arrows), just one field goal was scored, that by Ben Coy – and one three pointer – by Dylan Bogg, the remaining 6 points were to come from the free-throw line.

The Arrows in the meantime were finding the whole experience too easy, and on many occasions tried to pull off the alley-oop, which was never actually completed all night much to everyone's disappointment, including the 20 or so visiting supporters.

Former Express star, Daniel Richards had by the end of the third period, scored 11 points, and offered many assists to the now, ninety-two (92) points that Arrows had scored. The score with ten minutes remaining to play was 92-40. Many teams consider it a good performance if they score 92 points in a whole match, the hosts, in their rampant fashion had managed it in three quarters, and the question was, how close to a hundred point victory could the Arrows get, well they got to within 36 points – which is still a total thrashing, by 64 points.

The only event of any worth while note here, was a square up between influential Arrows player coach Garnet Gayle, and Express player, Ravenshead youngster Jamie McGaffin – it appeared that McGaffin, in trying to reach the ball may have provoked Gayle in some way, which caused him to throw a deliberate elbow.

Although the elbow didn’t make contact, it was spotted by Loughbrough referee MacDonald Callender who adjudged it to be violent conduct and worthy of a disqualifying foul which saw him sit out the final three minutes, coaching his victorious side from the bench.

The rout was completed, when Daniel Richards hit two three-pointers, one on the final buzzer, to end a 27-15 quarter for Arrows, and a 119-55 victory.

Whatever went wrong in this game, Martin Ford will quickly need to find a solution, before they travel, on Sunday to face relegation troubled Black Country Bears away from home – a team Express picked up one of only their three victories thus far this season, against in November, a repeat performance would leave the Bears three victories behind Express, with only five more games to play.

Express Scorers:

Duncan 12, Bogg 10, Greenaway 7, Olusoga/Ford 6, McGaffin 5, Jones 4, Collins/Coy 2, Law 0.

12/18 Free Throws, 14 Field Goals, 5 Three-Pointers.

Arrows Scorers:

Anderson 24, Bevington 22, Lockwood/Richards 17, Gayle/Waite 16, Hodge 7, Gittens/Hackett 0.

NBL DIVISION 1 25&26/01/03

NBL DIVISION 1 14/12/02

London United travelled to the fancied Worcester Wolves on Saturday evening to try to continue their four game winning streak.

Worcester have a great set up at the University modelling the entertainment package for the rest in Division One to follow, with their team entering the arena in Wolf masks to Michael Jackson’s thriller it proved enough to motivate United from the start to show them who was the masters on the court.

The game started well for United with them moving them ball well at the offensive end and getting easy looks inside through Sammy Rahman and Walid Mumuni. Pete Deppisch nailed an early three pointer to help draw out the Wolves defence.

Wolves replied with their own Cooprinder nailing three successive three point efforts and then captain Solvason hitting two. After a time out by London coaching staff the tactic was to stop the long range shots which had an immediate impact.

United took a first quarter lead of 20-27 and the game continued in United favour for the second quarter with Sammy Rahman doing the damage with 14 first half points and United leading by 30-48.

Deppisch took a lot of shots and was low on his percentages, although still managed to nail 13 first half points.

The third quarter saw a slight turnaround with Wolves outscoring United by only three points and then with the last quarter in progress Livingston stepped up to hit three quick three pointers raising the home crowds expectations, only to see London fast break for lay ups to keep them at bay.

United saw the game out with ease winning by 15 points taking them to a 5-1 winning  record joining them at the top of the Division One standings.

The United team take on Mansfield Express in the next game at Brunel University at Uxbridge on the Saturday 21^st December tip off at 6pm, and will be without Pete Deppisch due to his temporary return to the U.S although they hope to see the early return of Gary Maitland after his ankle injury.

Squad: Deppish 21, Rahman 21, Mumuni 12, Odulaja 7, Hull 6,  Vear 5, Hockey 2, Kitipis 2, and Mcnally.

Coaches: Majewski and Schiller

ROMANS CONQUER MANSFIELD

Mansfield Express 78– Team Bath Romans 81

Match Report by Graham Blankley

This turned out to be fast furious pulsating game against current League Leaders Team Bath Romans came and stole the points in the last few seconds of the game. Coach Martin Ford is doing amazing things with this young team and is quite justifiably pleased with the progress that is being made. This was the last home game of the year in what is the club’s fifth year in the National League, the club would like to take this opportunity to thank the people of Mansfield for their support over that time.

Back to the game, it started at a blistering pace with both sides running the floor and Express having the best of the early exchanges with Chris Law showing up well for the home side and Dylan Bogg being seriously influential. Points from Chris Law, Dylan Bogg and Andrew Duncan were responded to in kind by the big men of Bath, particuarly Pangi Grainger who was to prove to be the match winner for Bath. After ten minutes the scores were tied at 10-10 when local player Jamie McGaffin came in and pulled down offensive and defensive rebounds and scored two points and with a two from Dave Jones  and a downtown three from Dylan Bogg it looked like Express were going in with a three point lead before a long three point shot from Analts of Bath tied it up at 21-21.

The second quarter was as fast and furious as the first with Express matching Bath in every department.  Express top scorer in this quarter was Andrew Duncan with three points from the free throw line and six from the floor and a string of rebounds, supported by two three point beauties from Dave Jones and great defensive work and five points from Martin Ford Express were looking good. Exceptional work by Dave Greenaway saw Express go into half time with a two point lead over the league leaders at 44-42.

With great expectation from a noisy home crowd the teams came out to contest the third quarter and were not disappointed, within seconds of the restart Sutcliffe had leveled for Bath. The big men of Bath Lamble and Grainger were to dominate for the visitors scoring all but two of their points.

Ben Coy was to impress for the home side along with the influential Martin Ford. Bogg, Duncan and Jones along with Coy and Ford were to score for Express with the impressive Andrew Duncan moving on to 19 personal. The Romans, however sneaked the quarter by two points bringing the game level at 61-61.

The Mansfield crowd was hoping for a repeat of the Worcester game but they were to be disappointed. With big man Grainger dominating for the visitors, the widely experienced Dave Roper entered the fray to steady the Bath ship and came head to head with his old Derby Storm friend Martin Ford. No quarter was given in this struggle for the win with the referees having to work hard to spot all the off the ball incidents.

Enter Pete Olusoga who came on to hit two long three point efforts before being carried off with an ankle injury just as he was getting his shooting distance. Bath had a purple patch and moved into a seven point lead only for Express to peg them back to 78-78. A foul was called on Dylan Bogg shortly after he appeared to have been elbowed and despite calls from Dylan and the crowd and with Express on team fouls Grainger stepped up to hit two free throws to put the visitors in front at 80-78.

At the other end Andrew Duncan had chance to level it up with some 14 seconds to go but was unable to hold on to a difficult pass and vital possessions was obtained by Bath. In an attempt to get possession Express fouled and brought back to the line, Grainger hit one out of two.

This meant at 81-78 to Bath Express needed to hit a three to level up the scores, a time out was called with some six seconds remaining. The planned move did not work with Dave Jones or Dylan Bogg unable to get in to a position where they could fire in a three. A magnificent performance against a talented Bath side yielded no reward for Express but did demonstrate the great leadership of Martin Ford who has lost players through injury and the unfortunate retirement of Drew Barrett through injury.

Top scorers for Express: Duncan(22), Ford(15), Jones(13), Bogg(12).

Top scorers for Bath: Grainger(22), Lambert(17), Mann(11), Bishop(10)

NBL DIVISION 1 07/12/02

WOLVES SENT PACKING

Mansfield Express 86– Worcester Wolves 83

Match Report by Graham Blankley

Much fancied Worcester Wolves having defeated current league leaders Team Bath Romans the previous week came into this game brimming confidence. Ironically Bath are from the same stable as the team the stags defeated in the first round of the FA Cup, they also visit Mansfield Leisure Centre next Saturday night. The club is asking the sports supporters of the town to come along and support Express in the same way as they supported the Stags at Bath University. Chairman Dave Gilbert asks “If we want the club to progress further then we need the people of Mansfield to come and help us defeat the current league leaders. Next Saturday is our last home game this year and we are looking for a great party spirit just before Xmas, bring your drums and party hats and support a team already on a three match winning streak”. Pull the discount voucher from the Chad or from the clubs Web Site www.mansfieldexpress.co.uk

This game was described by a long time supporter as the best game he has ever seen at the MLC, the lead changed hands countless times and yes, the game was as close as the score suggests. The first quarter, however belonged to Express with Andrew Duncan opening the scoring for the home team quickly followed by a response from the Wolves best player captain and coach Rick Solvason. The first quarter was a great team effort by Express with scoring coming from six different players including two enormous three-point efforts from Welshman Dave Jones. Six points from Andrew Duncan, 5 from Dylan Bogg and four a piece for coach Martin Ford and a rejuvenated Chris Law and two from an in form Ben Coy. The reply from Worcester came from Rick Solvason with seven and two downtown threes from Ben Livingstone. The quarter finished with Express’s biggest lead of the night at eight points at 27-19.

That was the end of any sort of big lead for either team, as many people’s favourites for the league the Wolves were not going to lay down and die. With Solvason running the show they started to run down the home sides lead and it took all the experience of coach Martin Ford to keep them at bay. The introduction of Dave Greenaway and his defensive qualities did a lot to stem the tide and with Dylan Bogg’s defensive game improving all the time they kept the visitors to just 19 points, eight from Solvason, including two threes and four from Livingstone. Ben Coy stepped in with some great defensive rebounds and four points and with good defensive work from all the team they went into the half just two pints to the good at 40-38.

The third quarter was a humdinger with fast transition play from one end to the other and for the home team Andrew Duncan came back in opening the scoring for Express and continuing through the quarter with a total of ten after a barren second quarter. Solvason was weaving magic of his own scoring twelve personal for the visitors and pushing his own score to 27 personal by the end of the third. Bogg, Jones, Law and Ford were having a great games and continuing to score steady points from the free throw line and the floor. The referees were having a hard time keeping order and the fast paced game made their lives more difficult. The fans from Worcester were making themselves heard as was the home crowd. In what must be one of the most exciting quarters seen at the MLC the lead was changing hands frequently and the score for the quarter ran out at Worcester 26 Express 24 and with the game score at 64-64 we were set up for a grandstand finish.

The final quarter was a quarter in which neither side took any prisoners and with a fast paced game it was survival of the fittest and to a great measure tactical. Chris Law scored a simple lay up from a great team move, Dylan Bogg hit two snappy two’s and after being fowled whilst shooting an attempted three, stepped up to the line and rattled off all three points. Martin Ford, Dave Jones and Andrew Duncan were doing some great hustling defensively and Ford was drawing fouls and hitting the subsequent free throws. With Solvason, having spent the entire game on the court starting to look visibly tired Express pulled out in to an eight point lead at 80-72 with four minutes and thirty seconds to go. A seven point run in two and half minutes brought the game to 80-79 in Express favour with 1 minute fifty to go. Baskets were traded and with under a minute to play the score stood at 83-83, Andrew Duncan went down and put in a good lay up to give Express the advantage. At the other end Vansano for Wolves was called for a travel giving Express possession at a vital time. In attempting to gain possession Worcester fouled Martin Ford who dropped in one out of the two free throws giving Express a three point advantage with four seconds to go. Good defensive worked stopped Worcester pulling the game aback and resulted in a third successive win for the home team. The club is now looking for a bumper crowd for the last home game of the season this Saturday.

Top scorers for Express: Bogg(20), Duncan(18), Ford(15)Jones(12) Law(10) and Coy(8). For Worcester:Solvason(34), Livingstone(13), Cooprider(10)

NBL DIVISION 1 01/12/02

BEARS STILL IN HUNT FOR FIRST BLOOD IN LEAGUE  

It might seem incongruous to compare basketball with cricket but on this day there were similarities that could be drawn after Englands debacle in Australia earlier in the day.

New coach Nick O'Leary could not take up his position on the bench as his registration with England Basketball had not been dealt with in time and stand in coach Clive Allen, still unfit with leg problems, found that centre Alvin Scott and forward Dean Blake were suffering from injuries that would keep them out of the game.Forward Alan Bean turned up only to watch and told the manager that he would not be training with the team in future as he didn't think he was being used as he should.An opinion that only he held so his departure was not considered as a loss to the club.  Veterans Phil Cole and former head coach Alan Hunt stepped forward to bridge the gap in the defence and youngster Avery Dunkley came in at forward.

Just two evenings training under Nick O'Leary during the week showed a differencein the way the Bears approached the game and Mike Landell quickly hit 7 points to put the Bears up 15-9 after 5 minutes play only for the visitors to hit a 14 point barrage without reply before Simms hit a 3 as the quarter ended with the BEARS down by 5.

In the second quarter the BEARS again with swifter transitional  play carried the game to the visitors with Simms hitting three 3's and White a pair but the visitors still managed to shade the quarter by one point to stretch the half time lead to six.The second half began brightly with each side exchanging baskets but again one more point was enough to add to the visitors overall lead to go into the final quarter59-52 ahead of the BEARS.

It was the final quarter that brought greater comparison with the cricketers as the BEARS began to show their lack of fitness and tiredness led to shooting and defensive errors, upon which the younger and better equipped visitors capitalized.Tony Simms, who for the second week running , had manfully led the attack unfortunately picked up a fifth foul in the last minute, but by the time of his departure with 29 points  the game was all over for the Bears as the Londoners bounced through the heart of the defence to hit 28 points in the quarter to the BEARS 17.

Coach 0'Leary watching from the stands was not too despondent as he realises that the team has the talent to bounce back from an 0-5 record once he has got them into a disciplined practice regime that will improve their fitness so that they do not flag in the last quarter, whilst at the same time improving game play in general.  

BLACK COUNTRY BEARS 69 (18, 33, 52)   TOP SCORERS:- SIMMS 29, WHITE 17, LANDELL 12.

LONDON UNITED              87(23, 39, 59)    TOP SCORERS;- HULL 17, RAHMAN 17, MUMUNI 16.

NBL DIVISION 1 30/11/02

EXPRESS tame the WOLVERINES

North West London Wolverines 71

Mansfield Express 78

Match Report by Chris Dugdell

(19-16, 33-39, 49-59, 71-78)

Despite travelling to Willesden with a weakened team, Mansfield Express enjoyed the trip home up the M1 after registering their second league victory against old rivals North West London. With continued injuries ruling out both Drew Barrett and Dave Greenaway, and with Pete Olusoga lacking match fitness and Chris Law nursing a badly gashed chin, coach Martin Ford stripped up, looking for some action. In the end though, he was able to direct his players from the bench rather than from on court and restricted himself to just five minutes exertion.

North West London, with ex Mansfield Express star Melik Jivens as their captain and assistant coach, were an athletic and better organized team than in previous seasons, but they could not outshine this Express side who were looking for only one result – a win!

An early trade of baskets after North West London opened the scoring in the second minute, saw them establish a three point lead that would be maintained until the end of the quarter. Good close work under the basket saw Andrew Duncan score ten of his match high 28 points. Dylan Bogg with a long 2 and Chris Law scoring with a shot from the far corner together with 2 from Jamie McGaffin saw Express trail by 16 to 19 at the end of the first quarter. With Melik showing what we might expect with a trademark long three, and consistent scoring from Aguara and Ataha scoring 6pts and 8pts respectively, the Wolverines were clearly hoping to add another victory to their poor start.

In quarter 2, North West London set out to prove that their lead was no fluke. A huge downtown three from their number 10 Jack, extended the lead to six points before Express replied. Chris Law found the basket again following great interplay between him and Andrew Duncan and then Duncan found his range, shooting and drawing a foul and scoring from the bonus line after a great steal from Jamie McGaffin. Andrew began shooting freely but not scoring as the rim of the basket got in the way time and time again. However the players from North West London must have felt sorry for him as they stepped up to repeatedly foul him but, not for the first time, his shooting from the line let him down.

Enter Mr. Ford. Bringing stability at the back and keeping the team together defensively, coach Ford was able to orchestrate some of the best moves of the night. With Pete Olusoga finding his range with consecutive three point shots, Express went on a 13 – 4 tear to establish a worthy seven point lead. Mr. Ford retired to the bench – job done.

With an immaculate three pointer from ever improving Welshman Dave Jones, Express went in at half-time with a healthy six point lead at 39 to 33.

It has been said and written many times before, quarter three has consistently been a bad period for Express teams, but not tonight as Express outscored their hosts by 20 to 16. Winning the tip comprehensively, Andrew Duncan raced down court to receive the ball from Dylan Bogg and to score with some style.

For the opposition, Melik was having a quiet game whilst marshalling his troops but again he popped up for another three-pointer and then almost immediately fouled Dylan Bogg in the process of making his own three point attempt.

Shortly after this and with Express still just six points ahead, a great rejection from Dave Jones saw the balance of play shift towards Express again. Law, Weaver and Duncan maintained the scoring as Express extended the lead to 10. Darren Weaver, who was having a great game defensively, supplied a great assist for Jones to score two more but then he was called for two fouls in less than a minute and big ‘Weave’ had to sit out the rest of the quarter. However, this enabled big Ben Coy to enter the fray. His energetic defence meant that North West London were restricted to just one point in the three minutes that he was on court. Introduced at the same time, Gary Collins injected his usual pace and flair, collecting the ball in his own half and scoring with a delightful finger roll to put the lead back to nine.

With Coy back on the bench, Wolverines were finding the basket once more, reducing the lead again but a buzzer beating three from Dave Jones saw Express leading by ten at the end of the quarter 59 - 49.

Quarter 4 saw Ben Coy back on court and he opened the scoring in the first minute following good defensive work under his own basket. The new haircut was definitely having an effect!

With Melik trying to rally his troops and shooting more himself, the lead was reduced to just four points. A timely time-out from Coach Ford, his only one of the night, saw the reintroduction of Darren Weaver whose assist put Andrew Duncan back on the scoresheet again after a quiet spell. Despite the official North West London photographer prowling around the court, and even stepping on court during one of Andrew’s free throws, Express were not about to give up their lead.

Although Wolverines continued to find the basket with Ataha shooting a delightful three, Express were able to re-establish their seven point lead as unbelievably, in the last four minutes of play they scored 11 points out of a possible 12 from the free throw line. With tight defending from Wolverines restricting the number of shots, foul after foul rained down on the Express players. The inconsistent match officials awarded the penalties and Express captured the points and it was fitting that the last action should belong to Darren Weaver, scoring 3 from 4 with his eccentric free throws, in the final seconds of a thoroughly deserved and hard fought victory.

Express scorers : - Duncan 28 : Jones 12 : Weaver 11 : Bogg 7 : Law 6 : Olusoga 6 :Coy, Ford, Collins and McGaffin 2 each.

Wolverines top scorers: - Ataha 15 : Jack 14 : Oluwasami – 13 : Aguara 12 : Jivens 10.

NBL DIVISION 1 23/11/02

Express Coach delivery arrives too late for Bears cause.  

To describe Mansfield Express as mediocre would be totally unfair and unjust, but mediocrity was all that was needed to beat the BEARS in this bottom of the table clash last Saturday evening.

Imagine yourself sitting in the crowd watching a team of individuals, without the services of a coach and  with no apparent game plan, competing against a reasonably well organised home team coached by an 18 stone player, supported by another appearing to be wearing wellingtons, who found  rebounding at either end as easy as taking candy from kids and you have some idea of the annoyance that team manager Bob Beaumont felt as his team with the exception of Tony Simms, justified their bottom place in Division One.

Scott, Hall, Blake, Robinson, White, Gaynor, Richards, Landell, are names of players that ripped teams apart last year but this season are finding it impossible to even complete the simplest of moves. Time and again cross court passes were made at head height and easily plucked from the air by the home team. Lay-ups were missed with alarming regularity, attacks were not completed before the shot clock rang out, jump shots from outside the box were a joke, no-one had obviously discovered a bounce pass, players failed to get into positions to draw fouls from the defenders and only went to the line 9 times in the whole game.

But it wasn`t all bad. At least the foul line shooting improved to 66%.

The Bears eventually went down by 70 points to 83 with Simms hitting 32 and Landell 13.

Also suffering amongst the crowd was NICK  0`LEARY, who despite, or probably because of, what he saw, spoke to the manager after the game and confirmed that he would be prepared to take on the role of head coach for, as he said "I`d rather coach them than watch them!!"

Nick comes to the club with an England (junior), Loughborough University and former Brighton Cougars coaching pedigree to complement his position as senior Sports Lecturer at Wolverhampton University where he has as one of his students Tony Simms taking a B.Ed course, and Clive Allen who heads the basketball academy there.

In discussions with the manager, he made it perfectly clear that he will only work with players that he feels are totally committed to the cause and punctual attendance at training nights will be expected from everyone forthwith.
MANSFIELD EXPRESS         83 (22, 43, 64)  Top Scorers Duncan 26, Ford 15, Bogg 14
BLACK COUNTRY BEARS    70 (15, 30, 50)   Top Scorers Simms 32, Landell 13, Scott 9 

NBL DIVISION 1 23/11/02

Mansfield Express        83                     Black Country Bears     70

Express Season Kick-Started By Victory

Match Report by Andrew Monk

Attached is the press release regarding our first National League victory of the season - this over Black Country Bears, whose own reporter Bob Beaumont will without doubt make some controversial comment regarding either the game, the officials, or the fact that he will have tried to find something that Mansfield don't have.

Looking to pick up their first competitive home victory since March 23^rd; after coming agonizingly close at home against Westminster and Derbyshire, in two successive weeks, Mansfield Express took on newly promoted, and reigning Division Two Champions, Black Country Bears. 

The match saw the reintroduction of Pete Olusoga, who has recovered from a slight knock,  and replaced Ben Coy.

Drew Barrett and Dave Greenaway (Both Injuries), watched the game from the stands, whilst Hilroy Thomas was unavailable (Personal).

Of the two sides it was Express that opened the brighter and soon were out to a 9-2 lead, and it was an advantage that the home team never lost, despite early on the physical Bears side coming back to 9-5 down.

That really was as close as the visitors got, as through Welshman Dave Jones, who is seemingly gaining in on court strength, with accompanying points from Andrew Duncan, Express went into the first interval 22-15 ahead.

The second quarter started pretty much in the same vein – and it wasn’t until a Bears time out, with Express 31-18 ahead, that the experienced Tony Simms, identified in last weeks Chad as the main danger man, really started to come to life.

Nearly single handedly through Simms, the visitors came back to within 9, at which time Express coach Martin Ford came into the action – and it became immediately apparent that he was going to make a big impact through his ability to drive to the basket, and make his physique pay off.

For the last 4 minutes of the quarter it was more or less a shoot out between Duncan and Simms; and it was Express who went into half time with a 13-point advantage, leading 43-30.

Over the past 3 weeks, Express had successfully let leads slip, and gone on to lose, although it was never quite to the token of a 13 point one, and the atmosphere amongst the healthy crowd at the Mansfield Leisure Centre was one more of relief that it seemed that the first league win in three was only twenty minutes of basketball away.

Moving in to the second half, and a key third quarter in which should Express hold their lead, it would make almost certain of victory.

Nothing much had changed; Tony Simms continued to pop up for the Bears’ points, aided occasionally by a fellow member of his team, Mike Landell the next highest scorer behind Simms.

For the hosts Dylan Bogg hit a three-pointer, Andrew Duncan, continued to make most of his jump shots, along with Bogg when shooting inside the arc; and Martin Ford was still on form with his lay-ups. In the mean time, away from the Express offense, some defensive play which included a spectacular series of committed blocks, steals, and rebounds through Ford, Duncan, and Weaver.

The team was showing the sort of passion that the knowledgeable, vociferous following that Mansfield has, were more used to seeing – and they were being duly rewarded.

Free throw percentages have greatly improved from that early on in the season - and with the manager-less Bears struggling to gain any ground on the Express lead, they were already becoming increasingly frustrated, and giving away plenty of free throws for the single point bonus, which were taken with minimal amount of fuss and great efficiency.

Express won the third quarter 21-20, and went into the final quarter 64-50 ahead – Martin Ford rested a couple of his players for a few minutes, and moved to Gary Collins, Jamie McGaffin and Phil Archard.

Collins brought with him an injection of pace that the lively Worksop youngster seems to bring to every game he plays in – and although not too much in a scoring role in this contest, he was certainly there with the vital assists.

The two league points were seemingly comfortable, and although the Bears, and Tony Simms were continuing the move the scoring along at a steady rate – it was more than matched by Andrew Duncan, Martin Ford, Dylan Bogg, and Ravenshead starlet Jamie McGaffin who popped up for a great jump shot from a square angle.

The Bears won the quarter by a single point, 20-19; but this was nothing like enough for the Stourbridge based guests, who at the final buzzer had no complaints at their fourth defeat of the league season - this one by 83-70 leaves them rock bottom of Division One, whilst in the meantime Express’ victory moved them up to sixth place.

Express Top Scorers:    Andrew Duncan 26, Martin Ford 15, Dylan Bogg 14

Bears Top Scorers:      Simms 32, Landell 13, Scott 9

ALLEN - THE ANSWER ??
This local derby proved to be a real test for the Bears following on from their two recent defeats in the opening games of the Division One campaign.

Having suffered the loss of coach Alan Hunt, who had found the pressure of his new job and family commitments too time consuming to allow him to continue in the post, it was up to Clive Allen (still unable to pay because of injury) as coach on the day to try and stop the Bears free fall and recapture the team spirit that had seen them lift two trophys last season losing only two games in all competitions.

The omens were not good and history was stacked against Big Sky and the Bears as they had failed to beat the Wolves on their two previous encounters, when they were both in the second division in the 2000/01 season, and had also lost the season curtain raiser a year ago on what has now become known as "Judgement Day" in the Bears camp.

The victors, the Worcester Wolves, were consequently elevated to the dizzy heights of the First Division for the remainder of the 2001/02 season following this game despite the fact that they had won "nothing" to warrant their promotion and that being allowed into the league in the first place when they had failed to meet the criteria by which other applicants had failed to gain entry to the elites playground.

The Company of Wolves arrived with an entourage of coaches, managers, physios, video cameramen,  and general water carriers, all bedecked in club livery, made even more obvious the gulf between teams funded by university budgets and clubs such as the Bears funded by personal financial injections. Such funding enabled the Wolves to put together a team enjoying scholarships, the introduction of foreign players and the benefit of extensive training programmes all of which became evident as the game progressed.  

On the plus side the Bears welcomed back a 75% fit Carl White and this gave the team a tremendous lift  and also provide an outlet for point guard Robin Hall who showed flashes of last season's brilliance.

Tony Simms opened the scoring for the Bears to put them four points up in the first minute but that was the only time they would lead. Americans  Solvason and Cooprider took control of the game from the point guard positions as the Wolves took the first quarter 21-16.

Dogged defence from the Bears spurred on by a fantastic block by Dean Blake, chasing back after turning the ball over, to reject a shot by Solvason from the right corner and good defensive rebounding from Alvin Scott and Marcelus Elfrey brought the Bears back into contention in the second quarter. But all these efforts seemed in vain as the Boys from the Black Country fell further behind through a combination of poor passing, ball handling and poor shot selection (culminating in the simplest of open missed lay-ups by Sam Richards  which would have ended the quarter with the Bears ONLY three points down), This coupled with some dubious foul calls on the Bears defenders, extended the Wolves lead to 7, at the end of the half 37-44.

The second half saw Robin Hall and Tony Simms take the game to the Wolves but they were poorly supported by rest of the team and noticeably Alvin Scotts height advantage under the Wolves basket was too easily snuffed out. With Wolves' Chiverton finally waking up to dominate the Bears zone, the American connection easily took control shooting the visitors to a ten point lead at the end of the third quarter.

The last session proved disastrous with Simms and Hall tiring and the Bears foul count starting to pile up the home side managed  only 15 points to the Wolves 27 going down by 72 points to 94.   

Baron de Coubertin extolled "it is not the winning, but the taking part that counts,"  On the showing so far one must assume the Bears are going to be doing a lot of taking part!! Unless, that is, talks with a potential new coach prove successful and he/she can then engender the commitment to training and  to the club on the whole that is sorely needed. 

The Bears travel to take on Mansfield Express on Saturday November 23rd and return to home action on December 1st  against London United. 

BLACK COUNTRY BEARS 72 (16,37,57)    Scorers:- Simms 25, Hall 13, Scott 7.
WORCESTER WOLVES     94 (23,46,69)    Scorers:- Solvason 21, Gerrard 19, Chiverton 15  

NBL DIVISION 1  09/11/02

THE "BARE" NECESSITIES !!!  

There are two main reasons for doing something. You have to OR you want to. 

A permutation of the thousands of reasons for not doing something forced the BEARS to travel to Willesden to take on NW LONDON with only 7 players  and no coach. That was bad enough, and then, for the second time in 2 weeks, the visit to the capitol found the home side had failed to provide a match day programme, had attracted a massive crowd of 17 people, and failed to provide refreshments for the visitors after the game. All matters which ENGLAND BASKETBALL insist should be properly addressed by all home teams.

In fact those matters were all dealt with properly last season by the teams in Division II so it was reasonable to expect that Div 1 and Conference teams would have their houses in order. Perhaps it is not politically correct to complain but something has got to be said and done.

Anyway, without Clive Allen's height to protect the boards and Carl White's attacking skills, the BEARS once again found life tough in the First Division against a very well drilled NW LONDON team whose point guard shot the lights out ably supported by forwards with giant leaping abilities crashing the boards at both ends.

Try as Tony Simms did with 24 points and Robin Hall with 10 points to lead their team mates, poor shot selection, bad ball handling and awful passing meant that the Bears were never in contention and went down by 97 points to 63.

Forty five minutes after the game ended, the pizzas were allegedly on their way but so were the Bears. back to the Black Country, with sore heads and grumbling stomachs (and a Manager/Secretary in the drivers seat).

There will have to be some vast improvement this coming  Sunday at 4pm  at home to WORCESTER WOLVES in the Bears next league outing. Perhaps there will be as all the serial absentees will undoubtedly be available for selection.