EBL DIVISION 2: West Herts Warriors (15, 33, 50) 63 Mansfield Express (21, 43, 57) 72 Drew DeMuth proved unstoppable, with 45 points and 22 rebounds, as he spearheaded Mansfield Express' drive to the EBL2 Championship. A big 7-0 run to close out the period gave Mansfield the advantage at the end of a first quarter in which the lead changed hands five times. It was the Warriors who had begun like an express train, with 5 points from Tom Frederick helping them to a 7-2 lead, but the real Express hit back with a "3" from Gary Collins and an and-1 by Drew DeMuth, to go 7-8 ahead. Frederick, Sahr Komba and Rafe Abrook took the Warriors ahead again, 13-8, but Mansfield replied with six points of their own, and, after a Frederick put-back had put the League Champions briefly back in the lead, five points, and a rejection, by DeMuth contributed to the Express' run to close out the quarter. DeMuth was already on a "double-double" of 26 points and 14 rebounds by the end of the half, as Mansfield took control of the game. The first four points of the quarter extended their run to 11, and DeMuth was proving unstoppable as he hit 11 of the 13 points which established a 13-point lead, at 21-34. A 9-0 run towards the end of the third pulled West Herts right back into contention, at 50-52, but, inevitably, it was DeMuth who stepped up again for Mansfield, with an and-1 and a buzzer-beater to take the Express into the final quarter leading by seven, and his personal tally to 38. West Herts responded again early in the final period, and when Tom Frederick followed a basket with an and-one, the margin was down to just three points, 57-60 ... with DeMuth on four fouls! Frederick, however, has been carrying an injury all season, and was clearly tiring, and when a Matt Shaw "3" and another basket from DeMuth pulled the margin back out to eight, Mansfield were clearly in control. The Warriors managed just four more points from that point (a fast break by Odulaja, and a consolation last basket by Patterson), while the Express steamed on to lift their first Championship since beating Doncaster in a thrilling two-leg final for the Division 3 title in 2000. The Warriors thyus suffered the heartbreak of back-to-back Championship Final defeats (having lost to Nottingham last year), but Assistant Coach Neil McElduff was philosophical. "When a player like DeMuth is in that sort of form, there's not a great deal you can do about it!" he commented. Express: DeMuth 45 (+22 reb); Shaw 8; David Watts 5; Collins 5; McGaffin 4; Jones 3; Blankley 2; middleton; Dan Watts; Swinton [DNP]; Chamberlain [DNP]; Richards [DNP] Warriors: Frederick 21 (+10 reb); Odulaja 14; Komba 9; Patterson 6; Perera 5; Burgess 4; Abrook 2; Mundy-Castle 2; Bernard; Munro; Tye [DNP]; McKay [DNP] EBL DIVISION 1 Women: Rhondda Rebels (14, 32, 43) 67 Sheffield Hatters (25, 45, 59) 79 Hatters opened the more brightly, especially on defence, opening an early 8-16 lead, before Rhondda called Time Out. That seemed to steady the Rebels, who hit five without reply, but Sheffield raised their defensive intensity still further, and, with more variation in their attacking options, posted nine unanswered of their own, for the first double-digit lead of the game, 13-25. Another 0-6 run, by Stephanie Gandy, extended the Hatters' advantage to 16-31, and though the Rebels closed again, to 22-31, only Andrea Congreaves and Missy Lender were scoring for the Valleys team, and Gandy and Helen Naylor hit another seven unanswered, for a 16-point lead, 25-41. With both sides recognising the importance of the third quarter, both increased their defensive effort, and it took four minutes and twenty seconds before the Hatters recorded their first score - but it was a "3" from Sarah Naylor, which negated the three points that the Rebels had scored in that time! Rosalee Mason had picked up her fourth foul early in the quarter, and was rested, and it showed in a further weakening of Rhondda's offensive threat. Though Katie Crowley and Sarah Naylor both picked up their fourth fouls during the period, the Hatters continued to edge confidently away, to 41-59, and closed the quarter leading by 16. Leandra Little and Sarah Naylor hit the opening six points of the final quarter, to give the Hatters their biggest lead of the game, at 22, and they still led by 21 going into the final three minutes. The Rebels' 8 unanswered points merely made the margin more respectable, as Sheffield strolled to their eleventh Championship victory. Celebrations, however, were somewhat muted, as Rhondda's England International Andrea Congreaves left the arena on a stretcher, with back spasms as a result of a nasty fall onto the base of her spine just six seconds from the end of the game. Rebels: Mason 22; Congreaves 19; d'Hondt 10; Lender 8; Kaznica 6; Zekite 2; . Hatters: S Naylor 24; Gandy 22 (+11 reb); Little 11; Zagorna 7; Crowley 7; H Naylor 5; Hay 2; Jamieson-Shaw 1; Hutchinson. EBL DIVISION 1: Worthing Thunder (31, 54, 83) 99 Reading Rockets (31, 64, 75) 103 A magnificent fourth quarter comeback gave Reading Rockets the title in a thrilling EBL1 Championship Final. "Dour and defensive" just isn't in the manual for either of these teams, as they clearly demonstrated with a thrilling end-to-end first quarter, as they shared 62 points. Worthing broke the game open early in the second, with Steven Gayle outstanding, as they moved into a 54-45 lead. The lead peaked at twelve (64-52), with the Thunder taking a ten point advantage into the break. Gayle had 24 points in the half, and five rebounds, followed by Alfredo Ott with 19, while Peder Madsen led the way for Reading with 16 (and 6 boards), with EJ Harrison on 15. Several times in the third quarter Reading threatened to come back at the league champions, closing the gap to 60-66, and then 73-79, with Paul Tonkovich and Tomas Kersis prominent, but each time Worthing weathered the storm and still held an eight point lead at the buzer. The Thunder re-established a double-digit lead early in the fourth, 77-88, but with 8:10 still to play Alfredo Ott picked up his fourth foul. With both Ott and Pat Bates (with four fouls earlier) on the bench Worthing were lacking their go-to man and their strongest physical player, and Reading took full advantage with a nine point run that closed the gap to just two points. That prompted the return of Ott, with just under 6 minutes to play, and he immediately made an impact, with 1 of 2 from the line (the only occasion on which he went to the stripe all afternoon). Reading, though, now had the momentum, and back-to-back "treys" from Harrison put them ahead, 91-94. Gayle (1 of 2) and Jonathan Woods restored parity, but the Rockets had the smell of success in their nostrils, and two baskets from Kersis (either side of a missed "3" by Ott) gave them a lead they would not relinquish, as they kept their heads for the final three minutes, for a victory that showed how competitive the division is, with four different teams winning the four competitions! EJ Harrison (in what is rumoured to be his last game here) led all scorers, with 35, but the MVP award was justifiably taken by Tonkovich, who had a huge 15 rebounds, as well as two blocked shots, to go with his 22 points. Thunder: Gayle 32; Ott 30; Woods 16; Bates 9; Vear 6; Ugbana 6; Rockets: Harrison 35; Tonkovich 22 (+15 reb); Madsen 20 (+10 reb); Kersis 14; Kelly 6; Wellings 4; Cook 2 |
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