National Trophy reports

w/e 05/02/06

Worcester hit Trophy bulls-eye against Sheffield

Worcester Wolves: 97 (32, 57, 73) (Harper 39, Urbonavicius 25, Shaw 15)

Sheffield Arrows: 82 (17, 41, 61) (Brown 35, Kain/Anderson 13, Gayle 9)

After a fairly easy game at home to Nottingham Knights the previous evening, Worcester travelled to Coventry to face the Sheffield Arrows in their first major final since forming in September 2000. With them came a loyal core of nearly 300 fans to give their support. Worcester had every right to be confident after very convincing wins against London United at the semi-final stage and a good win at home against the Arrows in the league earlier in the season. Worcester started strongly and never looked back, a punishing opening that the Arrows failed to recover from.

Worcester’s Ty Shaw won the tip but was fouled on his first offence. He sunk one of his two free throws. The Wolves then began a unremitting series of offences at the basket leaving Sheffield trailing behind within minutes. After 4½ minutes, they were 17-7 up and their lead continued to grow for much of the rest of the quarter with Sheffield already in foul trouble. An offensive foul call on Valdas Urbonavicius took Worcester into foul trouble around a minute later. Long shots from Andy Harper and Ben Potts added further to the Wolves’ lead. With 5.6 seconds remaining on the clock, Matt Collins attempted a drive to basket but his shot was unsuccessful leaving the Wolves with a comfortable 32-17 lead with Andy Harper having already clocked up a personal score of 15 points.

Ben Potts opened the second quarter with 3 followed by another 2 plus a bonus on Worcester’s next offence. Shaw was called for travelling and objected to call and was given a technical foul as a result. This failed to deter the Wolves however, as they continued to run rings around the Arrows. After 3¾ minutes of play, they held their lead at 45-31. In the next few minutes, the Arrows managed to narrow the gap a little but a series of strong offences in response by Worcester stopped the rot, most notably through more three-pointers from Andy Harper. Worcester again had the final offence of the quarter, but again the basket eluded them to close the quarter 57-41 with the prospects for the second half looking promising.

Valdas Urbonavicius opened the second half with an attempt at a long 3 which missed, but Shaw picked up the rebound and made 2 from it. This was followed on the next offence by yet another 3 from Harper. Worcester kept up the pressure and Sheffield were still unable to close. After 4 minutes, the Wolves had maintained a comfortable lead of 64-48. The whole Worcester team continued to put their all into the game and it showed. Sheffield had the final offence this time, but were defended out by the Wolves to close the quarter 73-61.

After some fractious discussion on the Sheffield bench, the Arrows came back onto the court looking grimly determined, but to no avail. Andy Harper dropped more points in on the first two offences of the quarter. Matt Collins stole the ball from Sheffield whilst they were in offence but was held by the ankles by the Arrows’ Richards who was given an unsportsmanlike foul. The Arrows were working incredibly hard to prevent the Wolves hitting the hoop but as a result ended up in foul trouble after just 3½ minutes. Valdas Urbonavicius was fouled by Sheffield’s Davidson who complained, was given a technical and was fouled out as a result. Urbonavicius sunk all four free throws. With around 1¼ minutes of play remaining, Worcester led 93-79 and Sheffield’s position appeared impossible. The Arrows continued to commit fouls and, by and large, Worcester made good use of the bonuses. With 16.9 seconds remaining, coach Josh Cooprider decided to bring on his bench for the remainder of the game. Sheffield’s final shot from Brown hit the ring but bounced back out. On the final buzzer, the score lay at 97-82 to Worcester.

After having scored 39 points including 6 three-pointers, taken 7 rebounds and made 2 assists, Andy Harper was very deservedly given the MVP award for the match.

w/e 15/01/06

City of Sheffield Arrows 103 Reading Rockets 83 (Overtime)

WHAT A GAME! This had everything from start to finish. With the Sheffield Arrows needing to make up a 14 point deficit the home side came out fast and established a useful early lead. After initial rebounding dominance by Reading, the more aggressive Arrows defence applied tremendous pressure, succeeding in creating turnovers and securing both defensive boards and offensive tips against their bigger opponents. A Tucker Kain 3 pointer gave the Arrows a 15 – 7 lead and following a lay up by the same player the Sheffield side were within sight of canceling out the first leg deficit at 22 – 12. Good ball movement continued the provide Noah Brown and Tucker Kain with good openings and three pointers from Garnet Gayle and Jamie Davidson maintained a 10 point advantage at the end of the quarter at 28 – 18.

The Arrows continued to cope with the greater size of their opponents well snatching their fair share of boards to keep the lead at 10 points. A Tucker Kain block lead to a Garnet Gayle break who’s cool finish also secured a foul shot and the extra point. The Rockets continued to play in their methodical way without putting the Sheffield side under too much pressure. An Adrian Anderson break and dunk sent the Arrows in to the Half with a 46 – 36 lead.

The Arrows began the third period quickly. An Anderson rejection followed by a Tucker Kain 3 pushed the lead out to 53 – 39 and for the first time in the game the Arrows has eradicated the first leg Reading advantage. However, the Berkshire side quickly responded with a 6 – 0 run forcing an Arrows Time Out. The Arrows came on strong again. Dominating play by Tucker Kain, having his best game of the year, enabled the Arrows to develop a 2 point overall lead in the tie at 70 – 54. Once again, the game was turned on its head with a Reading 7 – 0 spurt to pull the game back to 70 – 61 at the end of three periods.

In the fourth quarter Reading managed to keep the Arrows lead down to around 10 points as Noah Brown kept the home side in touch with 11 straight points. Arrows continued to frustrate the Rockets offence with smothering defense. In this mood the Arrows are clearly the best defensive unit in the league. Their tremendous athleticism and speed certainly became their most vital weapons as the clock wound down. A Noah Brown 3 levelled the overall score at 90 – 76 with only 1.39 left in normal time. Up stepped the Arrows defence again not allowing the Rockets a single easy shot as time ran out and overtime required to separate these two excellent sides.

Both sides traded baskets and turnovers as each desperately looked to develop that run which would surely clinch the tie. A Jamie Davidson three pointer pushed the Arrows out to a 99 – 83 lead and ahead by 2 overall. Superb pressure defence by Danny Richards secured a 5 second call. With the Arrows now in the lead the Rockets had to resort to fouls. Noah Brown and Jamie Davidson coolly sank 4 foul shots to complete a 103 – 83 victory.

This was a stunning game of basketball between two outstanding sides. The Arrows clearly showed great fight and character to pull back a 14 point deficit, typical of this groups never say die attitude. With the offense functioning well and their aggressive style of defence creating mayhem, the Sheffield Arrows are still a real force in English Basketball. Roll on the Trophy Final at Coventry on Sunday 5 February.

Scorers: Noah Brown 38, Tucker Kain 25, Adrian Anderson 22, Jamie Davidson 8, Garnet Gayle 6, Danny Richards 4, Guy Renton 2.

Worcester lope to semi-final victory

Worcester Wolves: 74 (21, 44, 61) (Harper 18, Shaw 16, Clarke 12)

London United: 88 (23, 42, 54) (Reid 28, Deppisch 24, Jagodka 23)

London United’s mediocre performance at home against Worcester in the first weekend after Christmas had left them with a huge mountain to climb if they were to have any chance of getting to the National Trophy final in February. They needed a 39-point win in order to do this, and their arrival with only 6 players tended to imply that they were resigned to their fate. After the loss of one of these 6 to injury during the game, Worcester were able to allow their bench players to stretch their legs whilst London looked increasingly tired and frustrated.

Worcester’s Ty Shaw won the tip, but Pete Deppisch opened the points for London 30 seconds later with a 3. The visitors’ lead lasted a couple of minutes until the Wolves gradually closed to draw ahead 12-10 after 5 minutes of play. Shortly afterwards, Valdas Urbonavicius stole the ball and drove the full length of the court to sink a stylish one-handed slam for the Wolves. In the latter half of the quarter, London drew ahead again, though only by the slenderest of margins. With 0.6 seconds remaining, London’s Jagodka attempted a near full court shot, but missed narrowly to close the period 23-21 to the visitors.

London restarted, but this time the quarter’s first points came from Rob Clarke after an assist from Ty Shaw. London remained ahead for several minutes, but never by a sufficient margin to cause the Wolves to worry. A couple of minutes into the period, London’s Machynia injured his ankle, causing a few minutes of stoppage: the injury consigned him to the bench, leaving London with a mere 5 players in total. The scoring remained close with neither team truly gaining the upper hand. The Wolves’ final offence of the quarter was made good by Ben Potts with 2 on the buzzer after misses by both Collins and Harper to close the quarter 44-42 to the Wolves.

Shaw opened the second half with 2 followed by another close shot moments later. After 3 minutes of play, Worcester had pulled 52-44 ahead, increasing this by another 2 points in the next 45 seconds. The score remained quite static for remainder of the quarter as both teams worked hard in defence. Ben Potts sunk one of several long range 3-pointers in the latter half of the game with around 4 minutes of the quarter remaining putting Worcester a clear 10 points ahead of their adversaries. Joshua Oladimeji put a long 2 up with fractions of a second remaining, but unfortunately it bounced off the ring to close the quarter 61-54, and any hope that London may have continued to harbour looking increasingly futile.

For the remainder of the game, Wolves’ coach Josh Cooprider put four of his bench players with Andy Harper in support on court, giving them an excellent opportunity to experience top-flight basketball. The visitors drew level 68-68 on 3¼ minutes and from there onwards gradually pulled ahead. However, their chances of achieving the required 39-point margin were virtually non-existent and the Wolves’ put in a good performance, working just hard enough to keep in touch whilst keeping London on their toes. The last points of the game came from Rob Clarke with a long 2 from the corner. Joshua Oladimeji played out Worcester’s final offence of the game to close play 88-74 to London, but 178-154 to Worcester on aggregate.

w/e 08/01/06

Wolves triumph against not so united London

London United 66 (19, 33, 51) Ataha 15, Quashie 12, Deppisch 8.

Worcester Wolves 104 (25, 58, 78) Harper 31, Shaw 22, Urbonavicius 20.

The Wolves travelled to London expecting a tough game against the team who were league leaders over the Christmas break, but the home side had faltered against Manchester on Saturday evening and seemed to collapse against Worcester tonight.

Ty Shaw won the tip for the Wolves but the home side opened the scoring 45 seconds later with three points and built a small advantage from there. Shaw sunk a 3-pointer after 4½ minutes to close the gap to 12-7 and coach Cooprider called time out. His words were inspirational and the Wolves took the lead after 7 minutes and never relinquished it again, finishing the first quarter with a 25-19 advantage over their hosts, with Shaw having scored 12 points personal.

Matt Collins stole the ball from United’s re-start and charged up court for a text-book lay up and then converted both free shots gifted by a London technical foul. Ben Potts replaced Urbonavicius and sunk a long shot to take the score to 27-36 after 5 minutes. Andy Harper let loose and score 15 points in the quarter (including three 3-pointers) and Collins made 8 to boost the Wolves lead to 58-33 at half time.

Great Wolves teamwork and strong defence continued to deny the hosts whilst the visitors kept up the pressure at the other end. After 6 minutes the score stood at 44-74. Two minutes later, Ty Shaw was called for his fourth foul and coach Cooprider immediately called for a substitution … ten seconds too late … Shaw disagreed with the foul call and was given a technical for something he said. Rob Clarke came onto court to replace him. Cooprider sent Shaw back to the changing room. The quarter ended at 51-78, with United having recovered slightly in the final minutes.

The Wolves defence continued to frustrate United in the final period, with Chiverton particularly effective for the visitors. Urbonavicius made 10 points and Harper another 7 to wrap up a massive 38-point victory for the Worcester side to take to the home leg next Sunday at 2.30 p.m. at the University of Worcester

Sunday was a crunch game for London United, desperate for their first piece of silverware in the National Trophy. Paired against Worcester Wolves whom United had previously beaten by 9 in the League, United were obviously not prepared for what was to happen. United went down in the 1st quarter by 6 at 19-25 and then a 33 point tally by Wolves in the 2nd to United's 14 gave Wolves the advantage at the half by 25 at 33-58.

The game was so one sided from then on in that United coaches and players can openly admit they felt embarrassed by the drubbing they received in a final score of 66-104 effectively ending United's Cup run, even though they have to travel to Worcester next Sunday in the return leg.

22/10/05

Essex & Herts Leopards 71 (20,31,56)
Worthing Thunder 64 (16,29,41)

Leopards survived a late Thunder fight-back as they finished their EBL Trophy campaign with a victory, on Saturday.

Steve Ogunjimi led the Big Cats' scoring with 19 points as Jon Burnell's side ended Worthing's chances of progressing to the semi-final.

With his side unable to qualify for the last four, Burnell opted to experiment, and begun the game with a three-guard line-up, giving Sam Salter his first start of the season in place of Laurent Irish. An even first period saw the sides tied at 8-8 after five minutes, but with Ogunjimi hitting ten points despite missing three free-throws, the home side gradually edged ahead, and an Ogunjimi dunk with 19 seconds of the quarter remaining sent Leopards into the first break with a 20-16 lead.

Scores from Rani Malik and Stephen Gayle saw Worthing level the score, but a pair of Troy Selvey baskets restored the home side's advantage. Steve Vear and Pat Bates scored to put the hosts on level terms again before a single Errol Seaman free-throw launched an 8-1 run which put Leopards into a lead they were to never relinquish. Captain Matt Eames, Seaman and Selvey all scored for the Big Cats, and they went into the locker room with an eight-point half-time advantage after Sky Buck hit a huge three two seconds before the buzzer.

Selvey hit the first seven Leopards' points of the second half as the Big Cats maintained their double-digit lead. A dunk from Selvey launched the 9-0 Leopards run, which featured an Ogunjimi three and the rarity of a pair of the successful free-throws from Roger Lloyd, and despite four Worthing points to close out the quarter, the Big Cats reached the final break with a 15 point lead.

Buck launched the fourth period with second trey of the night, and scores from Selvey and Seaman extended Leopards' lead to 23, at 64-41 with seven minutes on the clock.

The home side noticeably relaxed, allowing Thunder to scored nine unanswered points, before Burnell called a time-out with 4:06 on the clock, and Salter ended the run with a three from Buck's assist. That proved to be only a temporary respite for the home side, as they were outscored 14-4, but with a comfortable lead, the Leopards held on to gain revenge for the 20-point hammering they had suffered on the south at the start of October.

Leopards: S Ogunjimi (19), T Selvey (18), S Salter (11), S Buck (10), E Seaman (9), R Lloyd (2), M Eames (2), D Jones, L Irish, E Gregory (DNP)

16/10/05

Magic Out of Trophy Despite Win.

Sheffield Arrows: 84 Manchester Magic: 74

To have a chance of progressing to the semi-final of the National Trophy, the Magic had to overcome the Arrows by 7 points. Early exchanges went the way of the Arrows, as they led 19-16 by the end of the first quarter. The Magic struggled to contain the Arrows guard Brown, as he plundered points from all over the floor. This gave Sheffield and 11 point advantage 39-28 at the half.

With Delme Herriman and Matt Hogarth causing the Arrows’ defence problems in the third quarter, the deficit was reduced to 4 points in the 7^th minute. But poor shot selection and lack of defensive concentration on the Magic’s part gave the initiative back to their opponents. Although the Magic shaded the last quarter, they were unable to pull back the Arrows, who progress to the semi-finals.

Top Magic scorers: Delme Herriman: 24 Matt Hogarth: 20 Wade Henninger/Elliot Goren 9

Teesside Mohawks: 92 Manchester Magic: 94

After the loss at Sheffield the previous night, the Magic travelled north to Teesside to take on the Mohawks in a meaningless game. Neither team could progress further in the competition and there was only pride to play for.

It was a dour affair, with the Magic trailing for most of the game, until the 5^th minute of the final quarter, when they got their noses in front for the first time. However, a score by the Mohawks in the final second sent the game into overtime.

The game suddenly came to life as Hogarth started to penetrate the Mohawks’ defence, making them foul him. Points from the stripe by Herriman and the Magic looked home and dry with seconds remaining. But a 3 pointer by Mohawks’ Adu tied the game. Then he was fouled and went to the line with half a second left. Needing to score one, he missed both and sent the game into a further period of overtime. The Magic did well to keep their nerve and a score on the buzzer from Herriman edged out the Mohawks 94-92.

Top Magic scorers: Matt Hogarth: 31 Wade Henninger: 21 Delme Herriman: 17

London United progressed through to the semi finals of the National Trophy after convincingly winning their Trophy group after a double header weekend playing away to Kings Lynn Fury and at home to London Neighbours the Capitals.

United travelled light on Saturday after absentees Van Elswyk, Quashie, Salamon and Frederick were all unable to make the trip and still managed to take a 25 point lead at the half and finally win by 16, at 74-90 with new signing Damian Reid picking up 28 points and 12 rebounds.

The game which posed more of a threat to United's chances of going through was at home to Capitals on Sunday as United couldn't slip up having only beaten them by 3 points at Capitals home court on the very first game of the season.

United started brightly as Damian Reid dominated the boards scoring 6 first quarter points whilst veteran Pete Deppisch made his comeback from a back injury nailing 3 first quarter 3 pointers to give United a 27-12 head start.

The second quarter was a little closer as capitals battled hard to stay in the game although United still came out 16 up at the half through good team work and fast break offences. Two injuries followed in 3 minutes of each other as both Jacek Jagodka and Rob Smith twisted their ankles playing no further part in the game giving team Physio Alex Anzelmo plenty of work to get on with.

In the second half United continued to play good team basketball and the two guards Ataha and Machynia found the gaps in the Capitals defence with good passing and penetration. Machynia shot the ball very well scoring a season high 17 points. United won 90-68

United sailed through to the next round of the National Trophy winning all of their group games.

United scorers: Deppisch 18, Machynia 17, Mumuni 17, Ataha 12, Reid 10, Long 6 and Klocek 6.

United now face a very tough home tie in the BBL Trophy this coming Friday at Osterley against BBL team Brighton Bears. Tip off is at 8pm and tickets are available on the door.

Brown pulls off Magic Trick

Arrows 84 Manchester Magic 74

The City of Sheffield Arrows booked a place in the National Trophy Semi Final withstanding a bruising match with the Manchester Magic wining by 84 – 74. Noah Brown once again led all scorers with 35 points but he was well supported by Tucker Kain with 16 points.

The Magic clearly buoyed by a recent run of victories looked the better side in the early going with Hogarth, Herriman and Hettinger all prominent as they built an 11 – 6 advantage. Noah Brown was quick to sense the danger and responded with 12 first quarter points, while his assist to Jamie Davidson for a “3 pointer” saw the Arrows lead 19 – 16.

The second quarter saw the Arrows introduce Guy Renton and his work seemed to limit the Magic’s’ second chance points, while Danny Richards began to find his range closing the half with a buzzer beating “3 pointer” from distance.

The second half was a fierce encounter with Herriman shining for the Magic, however Noah Brown well – supported by Tucker Kain kept the Arrows ahead, an advantage they were to keep until the end.

This victory means that the Arrows have won their pool in each of their 3 years in the top – flight a remarkable achievement in such a strong pool.

Arrows Scorers; Brown 35, Kain 16, Richards 10, Anderson 9, Davidson 7, Gayle 5, Renton 2

The Arrows finally begin their League season this Saturday with the visit of the Coventry Crusaders to the English Institute of Sport at 6pm. The Arrows will be desperate to start the season with a win in their attempt to retain the Championship.

Reading Rockets 89 (19,38,56)
Essex & Herts Leopards 62 (16,27,37)

LEOPARDS showed the downside of their Jekyll and Hyde character as they suffered a heavy EBL Trophy defeat at Reading Rockets, on Saturday.

The Big Cats were a little unlucky to be trailing by 11 at half-time, but a poor second half performance saw them heavily beaten by the Berkshire side for the second time this season. Four of the visiting players scored in double figures, but with Laurent Irish leading the way on 13, Jon Burnell's team never had enough fire-power against a side who are arguably favourites to win the league this season.

Steve Ogunjimi scored four of the first six points for Leopards and provided an assist for Troy Selvey, but the shooting guard was forced to sit out the final six minutes of the period after picking up two offensive fouls.

A jump-shot from Irish gave Leopards 10-4 lead, but with the visitors struggling to control 6' 11" Paul Tonkovich in the paint, Rockets hit back with nine unanswered points to take a 13-10 lead. Back-to-back three-pointers from Sam Salter saw Leopards' lead restored , before scores from Tomas Kersis and Tonkovich saw the hosts regain the advantage to lead by three at the first break.

With Roger Lloyd missing a pair of free-throws, the Big Cats started the second period slowly with only Errol Seaman, who had picked up six first period rebounds, the only Leopard on the scoreboard as Rockets opened with a 9-4 run.

Scores from Lloyd and Irish finally got the visitors going, but although Ogunjimi took the margin back into single, back-to-back scores from Kersis sent Leopards into the locker room trailing 38-27.

Although Seaman continued to impress at both ends of the floor, a low scoring third period proved to be the end of Leopards' hopes as they 18-10, with only three points scored in the first five minutes, to trail by 19 at the final break.

With Leopards already needing a miracle to qualify for the semi-finals, the fourth period proved to be little more than garbage time. Ogunjimi and Irish each scoring six and Seaman increasing his personal tally by four to 12, and collected three more boards to finish with 13 - but coach Burnell will know that his side need to considerably improve if his aims of a top four finish are to be achieved.

Leopards: L Irish (13), S Ogunjimi (12), E Seaman (12), S Salter (12), S Buck (4), T Selvey (4), R Lloyd (3), M Eames (2), D Jones, E Gregory (DNP).

Wolves raze Crusaders’ camp

Coventry Crusaders: 86 (19,42,55) (Hamlet 31, Oatman 27, Twierdzinkski 9)

Worcester Wolves: 111 (36,66,90) (Harper 24, Shaw 22, Urbonavicius 18)

Worcester visited the Crusaders in the National Trophy, with the Crusaders needing a win of 18 points to have any chance of winning the pool and a place in the semi –final. However, they were missing long-range shooter Scott Neely, putting additional pressure on the rest of the team. They pushed hard in the first half, but in the latter half they slipped, allowing Wolves to emerge victorious.

Ty Shaw opened the game, winning the tip for Worcester, but first blood went to the Crusaders’ Hamlet. Shaw responded quickly with 2 points for Worcester, followed by 3 from Matt Collins on the next offence. Coventry kept pace for the first few minutes of the game, but as the quarter progressed and Worcester got into their stride, the home team began to fall behind. The Wolves put in a strong shooting performance despite very heavy attentions from the Coventry players. Sam Oatman closed the quarter for the Crusaders, with a well-timed run in for 2 just on the buzzer, bringing the score to 36-19 to Worcester.

The first points of the second quarter came from Andy Harper’s two successful free throws after being fouled in offence. The Crusaders made up some of the ground they lost in the latter half of the previous quarter to bring the score to 40-29 to Worcester on 3½ minutes. Joshua Oladimeji gave Coventry’s Oatman no room for manoeuvre each and every time he brought the ball up court for the Crusaders. After the Crusaders’ surge early in the quarter, they dropped further behind the Wolves again to go into half time 42-66 behind the Wolves.

Valdas Urbonavicius opened the third quarter in spectacular style with a slam off a well-placed feed from Chiverton. From the outset, it was clear that the Crusaders were again suffering from third-quarter blues, and Worcester took advantage, surging ahead. After 5½ minutes, the gap had opened to 80-44 to the visitors. Andy Harper took an injury to the knee after tangling with Crusader Selwyn Reid and was forced to stay on the bench for the remainder of the game. Danny Williams stepped in to replace him on-court, as the Crusaders desperately tried to stop the rot. Shaw closed the quarter with 2 plus a bonus, taking the score to 90-55 to Worcester.

Coventry coach Dip Donaldson opened the final quarter for his team with 2. However, Worcester maintained the pressure on the Coventry defence, whilst Coventry were frequently frustrated in offence. The home side continued to fall further and further behind, with only fairly occasional threes from Hamlet to awaken the crowd. The game ended to enthusiastic cheering from the Worcester faithful: 111-86 to the Wolves.

08/10/05

SOLENT STARS 55 (10, 26, 38)

WORCESTER WOLVES 78 (32, 46, 63)

Solent Stars continued their run of defeats in the National Trophy (only one win in 21 matches) with a lacklustre display at Fleming Park. Having already been beaten by the pool winners, Worcester Wolves, with an uninspiring performance at the beginning of the season, the Solent team was anxious to make amends in front of their home crowd.

However, two first minute three pointers by Valdas Urbonavicius, Wolves' Lithuainian import, gave the visitors a confident start. Solent initially responded with six points from David Butterworth, but then Worcester scored the next seventeen points before Butterworth - Solent's only scorer in the first quarter - responded with four more points. Worcester had moved the ball around effortlessly before striking at the heart of a poor Solent defence whilst the home team at times looked clueless in their approach play.

Briefly, at the start of the second quarter, Solent took charge as that man, Butterworth, added more points with another score coming from Clayton Milner, forcing the Worcester coach to call a time-out. A rather error-strewn passage of play then ensued with Solent restricting the visitors to just one successful three point attempt in the first five minutes of the quarter whilst reducing the deficit to thirteen points (22 - 35). Solent won the quarter by two points but, thanks to a last effort by Worcester, Solent still trailed by twenty points at half time.

There was no scoring in the opening two minutes of the third quarter before Mark Jackson latched on to a long pass from Butterworth, who had won the defensive rebound, to open Solent's account. Neither side was able to gain the upper hand in a dour ten minutes basketball which only yielded 29 points in total. Worcester, mainly through Ty Shaw, had won 29 rebounds to Solent's 18 in the first half including 13 which gave Worcester second chance shots.

The final quarter failed to produce any fireworks as Worcester consolidated their earlier supremacy although Solent shaded the quarter by two points. Only Butterworth showed any ability to attack the visitor's basket successfully and his tally of 31 points was the Solent highlight. However, the remaining players were all guilty of missed easy chances which, had they been taken, would have made for a much closer match.

Solent now have a week to work on their game before the opening league fixture at London Paws (October 22nd) and the National Cup game at Taunton Tigers (October 23rd).

SCORERS

SOLENT David Butterworth 31 Ollie Marsh 7 Mark Jackson 5 Clayton Milner 4 Marcus Ch'ng 4 Marc Steutel 4

WORCESTER Ty Shaw 20 Andy Harper 20 Valdas Urbonavicius 16 Robert Clarke 8 Matt Collins 5 Joshua Oladimeji 5 Colin Chiverton 4

Worthing Thunder 82 (22, 43, 56) Gayle 20; Vear 16; Wood 15

Reading Rockets 100 (23, 47, 74) Tonkovich 28; Madsen 22; Harrison 21

Both teams were evenly matched in the first period with Thunder’s Pat Bates in early foul trouble as the home team picked up 7 first period fouls to the visitors 2. This was eventually to seriously hamper Thunder’s defence in particular against Reading big man and eventual top-scorer Paul Tonkovich. The first quarter finished with Reading holding a slender 1-point advantage with EJ Harrison leading the way with 9 points and, despite enforced bench time Bates had 8 for Thunder.

Thunder started the second period brightly soon overhauling Reading’s lead and mid-way held a 35-30 lead. Rockets came back strongly with 6 points from Peder Madsen and despite resistance from Thunder’s Steven Gayle, the visitors finished the half 4 points ahead at 47-43.

The game turned the visitors’ way in the third period as Reading switched their defence to a zone and Thunder’s offence crumbled. Reading posted a 15-5 run with only Steve Vear from Thunder scoring any points. As Thunder resorted to poor shot-selection giving their opponents ample opportunity to grab rebounds and break on them the match slipped away. Harrison and Tonkovich did the damage for the host with 12 and 10 respectively whilst Thunder’s only real threat was from Vear with 9 points. With Thunder’s inability to play Reading’s zone and the ineffectuality of their own man-to-man defence, the quarter finished with Reading 18 ahead at 74-56.

The fourth quarter was academic as Reading did enough to keep any Thunder resistance at bay. Both teams matched each other point for point and Thunder’s Pat Bates fouled out with minutes to play. Reading Coach Dave Titmus was able to run his bench and youngster Danny Carter sank his only point of the night from the foul line to move Rockets into treble figures and condemn a very sorry Thunder to an 82 –100 loss.

01/10/05

Magic Continue Winning Ways.

Manchester Magic: 92 Teesside Mohawks: 68

Both teams have a new look to them this season and it was the Mohawks who made the most impact first. They soon went into a 9-2 lead, with the smart shooting which was to characterise their game throughout, but Aaron Roberts and Richard Martin soon started to turn the game round with a lively display of energy and initiative. Sean McKie, enjoying plenty of court time, took charge and played his best game ever for the team, although his final statistics were modest. By the end of the first quarter, the Mohawks led by 17-14.

McKie opened the second quarter with a knife- through -butter drive and basket and for the rest of the quarter, the Magic ran away with the game, outscoring the Mohawks by 20 points. Delme Herriman caused his opponents all kinds of problems and Martin continued to catch the eye. Coach Jeff Jones was able to use all his players, as the Mohawks faded. They shot well all game but could not get through the Magic’s zone defence. They conceded 6 points in the last minute, to trail 26-43 at the half.

The second half continued in the same vein, with the Mohawks kept in the game by some very good distance shooting, but rarely penetrating to the basket and Jones was able to experiment with different combinations. All the bench players had plenty of time on court, though Adam Slater’s time was cut short by a nasty fall after a foul while he was shooting. The Mohawks never gave up, but ended the game 24 points adrift. By this time the home crowd were more than happy with the team’s performance in this third Trophy game and hoping for much more of the same for the rest of the season.

The Magic’s next home game is their second Trophy meeting with the newly promoted Nottingham Knights. Having beaten them on their own floor, the Magic will come to the game full of confidence. Tip-off is at 7.30 on Saturday, 8^th October at the Amaechi Basketball Centre and all are welcome.

London United had an impressive 43 point victory at home to Kings Lynn Fury in the National Trophy this evening continuing their unbeaten run to 3-0.

Two debutants were on show with Santa Ataha really impressing at the point guard and with American Keith Bridges impressing with his shooting abilities and solid defence and rebounding.

United started brightly although Kings Lynn stayed in touch up until the 5th minute, as they trailed by between 5 to 8 points for much of the 1st half when Santa Ataha stepped on court with 4 minutes to go in the 2nd quarter and increased the intensity on the defensive end and going to the basket strong for break away lay-ups. This helped spark the team into action as United went 15 points up with uncontested lay-ups off of steals taking a 46-31 half time lead.

Kings Lynn started the brighter of the two teams in the second half narrowing the gap to 10 points, however United's constant 12 man rotation kept everyone sharp whilst Kings Lynn tired as the game went into the last quarter.

Constant defensive pressure by United helped everyone pick up easy baskets as London eventually broke the 100 mark through a Mark Quashie steal and lay-up as Santa Ataha finished the game off with another steal and lay-up for United to win easily at 102-59.

This takes their Trophy record to 2-0 as they now travel to Essex and Herts Leopards at the Brentwood Centre in the National Cup round 3, on Sunday 9th October tipping off at 4pm.

United play their next home game at Osterley on the 16th October at 4pm against London Capitals.

Tops Scorers for United: Bridges 13, Ataha 13, Machynia 11, Mumuni 10, Quashie 10, Long 8, Smith 8, Salamon 7, Jagodka 7, Van Elswyk 6, Klocek 6 and Frederick 2.

SOLENT STARS 69 (22, 39, 53)

COVENTRY CRUSADERS 75 (25, 40, 56)

Solent Stars' interest in this year's National Trophy competition ended with this second defeat in eight days at the hands of Coventry Crusaders. Bearing in mind that Coventry played only seven players, including a few minutes cameo appearance from player/coach Dip Donaldson and that they had played a game the evening before, Solent would appear to have a mountain to climb if they are to be a competetive element in this year's English Basketball League Division One.

As in last week's game, Coventry took an early lead and by the third minute were seven points clear as Solent could only sink one shot, from David Butterworth. Solent looked less than confident in this first home game of the season and fell further behind forcing coach Steve Chant to call a time-out at the beginning of the eighth minute when they trailed 10 - 20. He was rewarded by seven unanswered points courtesy of Imran Shafiq (3), playing his first game, Butterworth and Marc Steutel who had earlier provide the half's most telling pass to start the run of points. Mark Jackson's late three pointer helped the home team to keep their deficit to just three points (22 - 25).

Although Solent quickly drew level with a Ryan Payne three pointer, missed defensive rebounds then cost the home team six consecutive points as Coventry used their height advantage to good effect. Solent were always chasing the game at this stage as coach Chant rang the changes with his players. Anthony Rutter - playing his first Solent game for two seasons - rewarded the coach's strategy when he came off the bench to hit five points in a row to level the scores and force Coventry to take a time-out. Both teams missed chances as the half closed out with Solent unable to score from the last possession to leave them trailing by one point at half time (39 - 40).

After starting brightly in the third quarter and scoring the first six points, Solent were frustratingly unable to capitalise on their advantage managing only one Shafiq basket in a six minute period as they went behind 47 - 53. Although Jackson was doing a good defensive role on last week's high Coventry scorer, Scott Neely, the same could not be said of other players as the visitors regularly got inside the Solent defence to score. Four points from Butterworth eventually brought Solent to within one point of the Coventry team, but again a failure to score let Coventry off the hook.

At 63 - 68 in the seventh minute of the final quarter missed free throws by Jackson and Marcus Ch'ng meant that the visitors were able to keep a three point gap. Solent, despite efforts from Butterworth and Milner in the final few minutes, were not able to make any inroads into the visitor's lead, especially as Coventry were able to go to the free throw line courtesy of fouls caused by trying to get the ball from the team winning most of the rebounds. The six point defeat could have been worse had Coventry not missed some free throws at the end. Coach Steve Chant was upbeat after the game, saying, "It was a game we should have won. The players know that and are already talking about making amends in next week's home game against Worcester Wolves". Whether next Saturday's game (Fleming Park, 8pm) will prove him right is yet to be seen.

Scorers:

SOLENT David Butterworth 24 Mark Jackson 13 Clayton Milner 9 Marcus Ch'ng 6 Ryan Payne 5 Imran Shafiq 5 Anthony Rutter 5 Marc Steutel 2

COVENTRY Jeremiah Hamlet 25 Selwyn Reed 16 Marcin Twierdzinski 11 Sam Oatman 9 Scott Neely 6 Dip Donaldson 6 Sam Spare 2

Worthing Thunder 103 (30,58,81)
Essex & Herts Leopards 83 (15,33,62)

A POOR display saw the Big Cats crash to a heavy defeat in the EBL Trophy on the South Coast, on Saturday.

A lacklustre defensive display saw Leopards unable to prevent American import Alfredo Ott launching a barrage of threes as the home side effectively wrapped up the victory by half-time.

Jon Burnell's team were not helped as the visiting coach pick up one of the three technical fouls Leopards collected on the evening, and the early barrage of T's helped Worthing open a 30 point lead late in the second period.

Errol Seaman led the Leopards' scoring with 20 points, while Steve Ogunjimi added 18 and six assists.

After Laurent Irish had missed two free-throws in the opening minute, and Big Cats were on level terms for only two minutes, with Ott answering Skye Buck's game-tying score with a three to give Worthing a fourth minute lead they were to never relinquish. Ott drained four treys in the first quarter alone, and although Sam Salter got in on the act with a three, Thunder reached the first break with a 15 point lead.

Ogunjimi opened the second period with a score off Salter's assist, but any thoughts of a comeback were quickly ended as Worthing added 10 unanswered points in two minutes. From then on there was little doubt that big-spending Worthing would be picking up the victory.

Technical fouls on Irish and Burnell saw Thunder go 55-25 up with 2:33 on the clock, and despite eight points for Ogunjimi in the period, Leopards trailed by 25 at half-time.

To their credit, Leopards did not fold during the second half, and with Buck scoring a pair of threes in a ten-point third period, and Seaman adding eight they cut the lead to 19 with three minutes of the quarter remaining, and kept that margin at the final break.

The final period was of little consequence, though new signing Dave Jones looking useful with a nine point haul, but Burnell will know that his side has to improve considerably if they are to challenge for honours this season.

Leopards: E Seaman 20, S Ogunjimi 18, S Buck 14, T Selvey 11, D Jones 9, S Salter 5, L Irish 4, M Eames 2, R Lloyd, E Gregory (DNP)

Wolves hunt down the Crusaders

Worcester: 94,19,39,70 (Harper 21, Shaw 20, Urbonavicius 18)

Coventry: 77,20,37,61 (Hamlet 24, Oatman/Neely 17, Reid 6)

Ty Shaw won the tip for Worcester and fed the ball to Andy Harper who sunk 3. Matt Collins followed this with 2 of his own moments later. Despite this early lead, Worcester slipped behind as Coventry responded with a flurry of points of their own. The gap between the teams did not widen to much more than 5 points, but it gave Worcester food for thought. The Wolves worked hard as the quarter progressed and gradually more shots began to go in, and the gap narrowed. On 7 minutes, the score stood at 15-14 to Coventry. Harper sunk another 3 points in the last couple of minutes, and 2 successful free shots from Paulius Augulis closed the quarter, Coventry leading by a slender 20-19.

Valdas Urbonavicius sunk the first points for Worcester in the second quarter after a feed from Collins. Shaw sunk 3 from the top of the D moments later. Matt Collins was called for a foul, which he questioned and was almost instantly given a technical foul. Despite this, Worcester began to gain momentum, and by 3 minutes into the game had built a small but comfortable lead of 30-23. However, in the latter stages of the quarter, Coventry turned up the heat and began to close the gap. Joshua Oladimeji succeeded in winning an alternating possession from Ed Baynes Clarke, despite a considerable difference in size! In the last few minutes, Coventry scored more or less in step with Worcester, and when the half-time buzzer sounded, they were only 2 behind Worcester: 39-37 to the home team.

Shaw opened the third quarter with a successful drive to the basket for 2. Valdas intercepted the ball at the other end of the court, returning it through Harper and Collins, got it back and sank 3. After a feed from Colin Chiverton, Urbonavicius sank another 3 seconds later. Despite such aggressive point scoring from Worcester, Coventry still managed to pretty much keep pace for the early part of the quarter, only trailing 56-51 after 5½ minutes. However, their progress slowed a little as the quarter wore on. In the last minute of the quarter, Dip Donaldson and Matt Collins were called for a double foul after a tussle at the Wolves’ end of the court. The quarter ended 70-61.

Oladimeji opened the final quarter for Worcester with a drive to the basket for 2. Worcester continued to frustrate the Crusaders, gradually pulling ahead whilst Coventry struggled to find the basket. Coventry put in a brief burst of scoring around 4 minutes into the game, but between 4¾ minutes and the end of the game, only scored 4 points. Six minutes into the quarter, Shaw was forced to take to the bench briefly after the referees noticed a cut on his arm, but was quickly patched up and returned to play. A series of fouls from the Crusaders, and most notably from player-coach Dip Donaldson, did little to help their situation as Worcester achieved a relatively high success rate from the free throw line. Chiverton closed the scoring for Worcester with 2 from the line. Worcester regained possession for the last few seconds to win convincingly 94-77.

24/09/05

Nottingham Knights: 76 Manchester Magic: 85.

The second pool game in the Trophy took the Magic to Nottingham to meet the newly promoted Knights. Although not firing on all cylinders, the Magic controlled the first quarter to lead 23-15.

The opening of the second quarter saw a quick response from the Knights as they closed the gap to one point. At this point, 10 unanswered points from Wade Henninger and Matt Hogarth put the Magic back ahead to lead 38-31 at the interval.

Led by their new captain, Delme Herriman, the Magic were soon back on track in the third, as they extended their lead to ten points.

The final quarter saw the Magic dominate the early session to extend their lead to 78-60 and only a 10 to 1 run in the last two minutes of the game by the Knights reduced the deficit to single figures.

Magic top scorers: Delme Herriman: 21 Wade Henninger: 16 Matt Hogarth: 14

SOLENT STARS 91 (16, 41, 68)

KNIGHTS LOSE TROPHY GAME IN OVERTIME

Imagine this: 1st season in D1, no pre-season games, only 2 weeks training, only 8 players and all British, average age 21, only 1 player have played at this or above this level before, no import players and a 3 hour journey to Middlesborough.

And then imagine going to Teesside Mohawks (the most successful EBL club ever) and holding them to 37 points in the 1st half (37 points each at half time), and forcing the game into over time with a buzzer beating 3 point shot from Bud Johnston to tie the game at 70 points each - WELL THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED.

All the players were looking forward to the game after what seemed like a long summer break to them; however, to the management of the club it came two weeks too early.

The team left Nottingham at 2.30pm on the team bus; Michael collected Tristan from his work place at 3,30pm. We travelled via the M1, A1, A19 and A66 through Middlesborough to Teesside, we arrived in plenty of time and in good spirits after watching ‘Coming to America’, on arrival we had a good look at the centre and had plenty of time to warm up.

Teesside had a full squad of 12 players, including two imports, one from France and the other from a European Country. The knights on the other hand only had 8 young British players; most of them have never played at this level before.

The game tipped off at 6.30pm with both teams trying hard to get the all important 1^st points on the board, and it was the knights who scored the first points with a basket from Tristan Lawson. After some good defensive work, Bud Johnston came down court and twisted his way through Teesside’s defence and found Lawson again, unmarked under the basket for an easy bucket. With the score tied at 14 apiece, new boy and hard working Stefan Gill hit a well-taken 3-point shot to edge us in front, but sadly for us struggled to find his range from behind the arc.

Both teams struggled to score points in the first quarter and the Knights soon open up a 5 point lead by the end of the quarter with Lawson scoring 8 points, with Johnston chipping –in 5 points and with Dave Passmore controlling the paint with some great defensive and rebounding work to help the knights lead at the end of the first quarter 21-16.

The second quarter began with both teams trading baskets, with Lawson keeping the knights in front with two well-taken pressure shots. After the 3^rd minute of the 2^nd quarter we did not score for 4 minutes which gave Teesside the opportunity to come back at us, they scored 11 points in a 3 minute spell, which put pressure on our defence and we found ourselves in foul trouble with two minutes of the quarter still remaining.

After a well-needed time-out and the introduction of another new boy Awalgak Malwal we composed ourselves and began to defend better as a unit, which saw opportunities for Teesside limited. The players kept battling away and managed to score the last 2 points of the quarter to tie the game at 37 each at half time.

From the start of the 3^rd quarter the players were beginning to look tired and it was evident that the lack of match practice were going to undo us, as we struggled for most of the quarter, just scoring 12 points which saw Teesside lead the game 57-49 by the end of the quarter.

Again we looked tired at the start of the 4^th quarter but we battled and kept making Teesside work for all their points. Our hard work proved fruitful but we picked up team fouls in the process of working extra hard on defence. With 3 minutes to go we were trailing 65-57, we called a time out and went man-to-man to try and pressure them into mistakes. And it worked well as the knight’s players further showed why they are regarded as talented young British players in D1.

Point Guard Bud Johnston who had worked hard all game took the responsibility on his shoulders and with only two minutes left and trailing 69-64 Johnston hit a three pointer, we then committed a foul on defence and they made 1 of the two free throws to make the score 70-67. With 27 seconds left of regular time we went up court looking for a three pointer from either Omope who had a quiet game, from the player coach but it fell to Johnston who collected the ball outside the 3 point line at the top of the key and worked a space for the shot and sank a sweet 3 pointer to tie the game with only 4 seconds left on the clock. Teesside rushed down court and through the ball up in desperation and missed and the game went into overtime.

By the start of overtime all the players were looking tired, Tristan Lawson had worked very hard all game, scoring 24 points. Passmore got cramp during the 5-minute period and had to get treatment, he scored 14 points and pulled down 7 rebounds, which is a great improvement on last season. Williamz Omope also developed cramp and was treated in a time out. Our young inexperienced team finally ran out of steam in extra time which saw them lose a little of their composure near the end which gave Teesside confidence and they went on to score 16 points in the 5 minutes of extra time to our none!! Final score 86-70.

The Knights young players did themselves and the club very proud and the Coach and his Assistant are very proud of their efforts and the way they took the game to the opposition. We also feel that if we can play like this with just our British contingent then we are going to take some beating when we are match fit and when our two imports arrive.

Magic fans recognised only a few of the players who took the floor for the Trophy game against last season’s high-flyers, Sheffield Arrows. Within minutes they were buzzing with optimism for this season, as the Magic raced into a 19-6 lead. When Arrows coach Garnet Gayle brought himself on after a time-out, his team woke up and started to score freely, with new point guard Noah Brown scoring at will. By the end of the quarter, Jeff Jones had used 9 players, more than Gayle had brought, and the score was 30-23 to the Magic.

The second quarter was a disaster for the Magic, as they lost their scoring touch and the Arrows ran in 32 points, answered by only 10.

The second half saw the Magic gradually working their way back into the game, as all their players, old and new, performed creditably, as individuals, but, not surprisingly, lacked cohesion.

In the last quarter, the Magic gradually whittled down the Arrows lead, as the Sheffield team tired and tried hard to keep their players on court. Well before the end they had four of them on 4 fouls. The Magic’s two Americans, Goren and Henninger, combined well to bring the scores almost equal, but when Delme Herriman, who had made a sound contribution throughout, had the chance to level the scores, he missed both shots. From 83-81, the Arrows stretched their lead to take a well-earned win 90-84. Despite not looking the powerhouse of last year, they will not be an easy team to beat. It was clear the Magic have enough talent to excel this season. Time will tell whether they will make the most of it. What is certain is that there will be no boring games.

Next home game is this Sunday, the 25^th Sept. at the Amaechi Basketball Centre. Tip-off is at 7.30 and it is a Cup game. Opponents are Huddersfield or Bradford. All are welcome.

Top Scorers: Magic: Wade Henninger:17 Matt Hogarth: 15 John Shaw: 14 Eliot Goren: 10 Delme Herriman: 10 Aaron Roberts: 8

Arrows: Noah Brown: 32 Tucker Kain: 20 Adrian Anderson: 15 Daniel Richards: 9