EBL DIVISION 2 CLUB REPORTS, 2005-6

w/e 29/01/06

COLCHESTER UNITED 66 WNC MANSFIELD EXPRESS 78

What turned out to be tortuous journey and some frantic phone calls to Colchester in an attempt to delay tip off was not a good start to a game with cars trying to find their way off a closed M1 and cutting across country to try and make the start time. The final car of 4 players arrived just after the scheduled 4pm start time and negotiated a 4.20 pm start time.

Express were at full strength for this game with Dan Watts and Martin Richards back to full fitness and with ever improving Gary Collins in the starting five. The game started at great pace with Colchester running a fast game and Jules Reevo starting to plunder the Express defence. Dave ‘TinTin’ Watts had other ideas as he opened the express account,  a three from Matt Shaw a three from Reevo it was nip and tuck all the way. 7-7 after 4 it was nip and tuck all the way. Points were exchanged throughout a fast flowing quarter and with Colchester doing a ‘close down’ job on the Express American Drew DeMuth it was certainly not looking like second against second bottom. Colchester went into a 12-10 lead with just under 5 minutes to go, contributions throughout the quarter included downtown threes from Shaw and Mark Jones, twos from a Martin Richards put back, Gary Collins, Dave Watts. Drew got on the score sheet from 2 from the line, Martyn Blankley came through with a free throw and a lay up. Colchester were putting a fight and the half finished with Express shading it at 22-21. 

The second quarter showed what a defensive force Express are becoming restricting Colchester to just three two field goals during the quarter and continually forcing the home team to use up the 24 second clock without getting a shot away. Colchester only made eight points in the quarter with Express replying with eighteen and from hereon in Colchester were on catch up. The points for Express included a third three from Matt Shaw, two more outside shots from Dave Watts, one from Gary Collins and Drew DeMuth, further free throws from Ben Middleton, Shaw, DeMuth and a buzzer beating two from Martyn Blankley to see Mansfield go in at the half with a 40-29 lead.  

As the second half got underway Express continued to stifle the opposition and the introduction of Dan Watts gave the team a boost, coupled with the introduction of Paul Chamberlain and Dominic Murphy Coach Squire was starting to use his young college bench. Martyn Blankley was starting to dominate the boards and put in six points and Gary Collins and Dan Watts contributing four each. Colchester’s Jo Matthews pushed his personal score up to sixteen as the home team continued to press, whilst at the same time restricting prolific scorer Dew DeMuth to just two from the line. Matt Shaw got into foul trouble with Express at that point having a 52-30 lead and was taken out of the game. This allowed Colchester to come back but left Express with a 58-45 lead at end of the third.  

The fourth saw a big effort from Colchester and within three minutes of the start Colchester had reduced the Express lead to just six with the score at 63-56 to Express. They could not hold Drew back forever and he was now starting to dominate as Colchester started to commit players and he pushed his score up from eight to 19, eight points from the field and three from the line.Matt Shaw was back with another three and Mark  Jones hit his trademark fourth quarter three. Two from Dominic Murphy and the game’s last few minutes closed out with WNC College players Craig Swinton, Paul Chamberlain, Dominic Murphy, Mark Jones and Martin Richards closed out the game for WNC Mansfield Express. This says much for the WNC Mansfield Express Basketball Academy and the confidence the coach has in his youngsters. The game finished with Express finishing winners against a very good Colchester outfit 78-66. 

Scorers:

WNC Mansfield Express – DeMuth(19), Shaw(15), Blankley(11), David Watts(10), Collins(8), Jones(6), Dan Watts(4), Richards(2), Murphy(2) & Middleton(1).

Colchester United –  Matthews(20), Szyttenholm(19), Wookey(10), Keewo(10).

Thriller in Overtime sees Warriors squeak past Tamar,  Warriors 76 – Tamar Valley 75 (OT) 

UH West Herts Warriors faced the first of two long road trips down to Plymouth last weekend, to face Tamar Valley Cannons who have recently been on good form, and were placed in third position heading into the fixture. Featuring a stronger squad than the one faced by Warriors at the Herts Sports Village earlier in the season, Coaches Harrison and McElduff knew this would be a tough game, but didn’t realise how close they would come to losing it. 

Deng Deng (who’s brother Luol plays in the NBA) opened the scoring for Tamar Valley on a putback, before Warriors could answer through Tayo Odulaja. Myron Riley then heated up for Cannons and ran off the next 7pts for Tamar, through a variety of tough shots from all angles. Despite responses from Rafe Abrook and ‘Cherry’ Mundy-Castle, both Adam Hatchell and Mark Gillbard were able to sink threes for the home side and help open up a 21 – 16 lead. Ritchie Burgess was the only response for West Herts, gobbling up two missed shots to convert them into 4pts. A Leon Bernard two inside saw the first quarter end with Warriors down by three. 

A positive start to the second period saw both Luke Patterson and Odulaja take the ball right at the Cannons defence. Odulaja continues his hot shooting, scoring 9pts in the quarter, however three straight triples from Cannons (including 2 from Riley) kept them ahead. An Abrook three pointer from the wing just before half time ensured West Herts would take a slim 34 – 32 lead into the break. 

The third quarter saw Cannons retake the lead through Deng and Hatchell, but Sahr Komba stepped up after a quiet first half to score 5 straight for West Herts, combing with Mundy-Castle to give the visitors a  42 – 39 advantage. Hatchell then continued his sharp shooting, scoring 7pts in 2 minutes, despite Jon-Paul Cox coming on and playing strongly for West Herts. Tayo Odulaja ended the period by slamming home two of a long pass from Bernard to ensure the game remained close. 

The one point ball game would continue to go down to the wire in the fourth quarter and provide much controversy. With the scored knotted at 52 each, Burgess was adjudged to have committed an unsportsmanlike foul on Shane Hennessey after he followed through after a personal foul by Odulaja. Bizarrely the officials called both a personal and an unsportsmanlike foul on the one play earning the player four free throws. While the West Herts coaches protested this error, a technical foul was given to Coach Harrison to give two more shots to Hennessey who duly converted 5 out of 6 to earn his side a 5 point lead. After a Komba jump shot Masai Zebe-Chaka hit a big three pointer for Cannons with 5 mins to play. Odulaja dug into his bag of tricks to provide the offence once again for West Herts, and he combined with Komba and Mundy-Castle to level the scores at 64 each with under 2 mins to play in the game. Two missed free throws for Zebe-Chaka allowed Odulaja to grab a 66 – 64 lead in the final minute, but Abrook then fouled Riley sending him to the line to convert 2 free throws to tie the score. Warriors were unable to convert on their final trip down court, but shortly after in-bounding, a confused Odulaja deliberately fouled Hennessey thinking his team were down a point. With 1.6 seconds to play and the scores tied this gave the youngster 2 chances to win the game, which to West Herts eternal relief, he didn’t and the game went into overtime. 

Hatchell struck first in the extra period, before Mundy-Castle answered with a tough drive. Tough Warriors defence allowed Komba to feed Abrook on a fast break who was fouled and converted two shots, followed by one of two from Patterson to put Warriors up 71 – 68. Gillbard and Zebe-Chaka both responded for Tamar Valley to put them back up by a point with just over a minute remaining. Abrook restored the one point advantage for West Herts with a jumper from the top of the key.

Warriors won the ball back again only for Cox to be fouled and injured on the play, forcing Mundy-Castle to shoot his free throws to the home side's frustration, making one of two. Accusations of cheating from the Cannons bench got the better of Coach Harrison and his response to them earned him his second technical foul and his exit from the game. The resulting free throws allowed Hatchell to tie the game with 30 seconds to play.

With Tamar Valley still in possession, Deng was fouled and made one out of two shots to put the home side back up by one point. With about 12 seconds to play, Mundy-Castle pushed the ball up court quickly and found Abrook cutting to the hoop with a perfect pass. As Deng stepped across, Abrook was able to hang in the air and convert off the backboard with 8 seconds to play, thus winning the game for the visiting team. Cannons were then forced to take a quick shot to try and win, but failed to get a good look at the ring and West Herts escaped as victors.

A relived Herts based team then stayed over in Plymouth for the night and enjoyed the local nightlife, before making the long trip back the following day. 

With Mansfield also winning the win was essential in maintaining their lead in the division and took their winning streak to 7 games. 

West Herts Scorers: Tayo Odulaja 25, Rafe Abrook 13, Paul Mundy-Castle 12, Sahr Komba 11, Leon Bernard 6, Ritchie Burgess 4, Luke Patterson 3, Jon-Paul Cox 2, James Tye, Jock Mackay 

Tamar Valley Scorers: Myron Riley 21, Adam Hatchell 19, Mark Gillbard 13, Shane Hennessey 10, Deng Deng 7, Masai Zebe-Chaka 5, Dan Taylor, Stuart Felice

NEWI Nets                         78        overtime 88           

Northampton Neptunes  78                         82 

The Northampton Neptunes were just edged out in an overtime thriller in North Wales at the weekend, Captain Mark Spatcher looked to have won the game for the Neptunes with just 14 seconds remaining in regular time before a foul saw NEWI send it to overtime. 

The Neptunes took a heavily depleted side to North Wales last Sunday, the Northampton side were only able to field six of their twelve players due to illness, injury and a personal family bereavement. However the good news was that Joe-Cachia Reynoso was back in the side after missing the passed five matches.  

Northampton started well in a zone defence to help protect the foul count. Reynoso made a good start to the game considering he was a little match rusty, Spatcher found him twice as he split the defence for easy scores. Taylor was also causing the Nets defence problems as he found himself with two offensive rebounds and score’s, the first quarter came to an with the Neptunes down by just one point 21 – 20.   

The Neptunes had a good start to the 2nd as Spatcher hit a long range three pointer followed by a drive to the hoop to give the lead back to the Neptunes. The Northampton side pushed the ball well up the floor which gave Taylor and Mcleod good opportunities to get to the basket. The Neptune went into the half with a five point lead 43 – 38. 

In the second half both sides traded score for the best part of 20 minutes, the nets were staying in the game due to some excellent shooting from outside the three point line. With just under a minute to go the Neptunes found themselves down by three 71 – 74 Spatcher then hit a three point off of a screen from Knight to tie the game up at 74 apiece, the Nets hit right back seconds later with there twelve three pointer of the game. The Neptunes were running out of time as Spatcher drove to the basketball and was fouled, he made one of two foul shots as the scores stood at 77 – 75 in favour of the Nets, The Neptunes then had Reynoso fouled out but manage to stop the Nets from scoring, with just fourteen seconds remaining Spatcher hit a pull up three pointer to give the Neptunes a one point lead the 78 – 77 then in the dying seconds Ben Knight was called for a body push which sent Newi to the line they made one of two to tie the game again. The Neptunes made a final dash with just eight seconds remaining Spatcher tried to find Knight on back door pass but Knight was unable to hold the difficult pass as the full time buzzer sounded. 

When overtime came the Neptunes had run out of players as Reynoso had fouled out Andrew Percival came in and made a good impact in overtime as he drove the basket and was fouled but unfortunately didn’t get the call. Mcleod hit for the Neptunes as the score were dead locked at 82 apiece with just under a minute to play, the Neptune then fell four points behind as they fail to score in two possessions while Newi convert both to seal the game.   

Top scorers for the Neptunes were Mark Spatcher with 25 points while Simon Taylor hit 21 and Joe-Cachia Reynoso notched up 20 points. Ben Knight also had 15 rebounds. 

The Neptunes now play at home this Sunday against the Bath Romans at Lings Forum Leisure Centre. Tip off is at 4pm

w/e 22/01/06

Warriors continue win streak against Liverpool,  Warriors 72 – Liverpool 48 

UH West Herts Warriors hosted Liverpool last Saturday who had given them a very close game earlier in the season on their own court. With Liverpool also on only 3 losses going into the match, it was another crucial game for Warriors who had played 4 more games than their opponents. 

In a replay of the first game, Warriors struggled out of the gate, and allowed Liverpool to build a 10 – 2 lead through super quick point guard Adam Nowell, and forward Kenny Chendo who was rebounding well inside. Warrior’s Leon Bernard managed to counter inside, before Tayo Odulaja started to take over the game, single handedly pulling West Herts back into the match by scoring the home team’s next 13 pts. The highlight of the game was a Warriors fast break, with Odulaja dunking on 6’8 centre Sharrenwebber who challenged him in mid flight. With the crowd getting into the game, Warriors great team defence brought the scores back to 15 – 16 at the end of the first quarter. 

West Herts built on the lead early in the second period with Luke Patterson and Jon-Paul Cox getting on the scoresheet. As the quarter progressed West Herts bench began to have an impact as it outplayed the Liverpool reserves, and kept the ball moving on offence with James Tye scoring off a steal and setting up Rafe Abrook for two underneath. Ritchie Burgess scored off a missed shot at the end of the quarter to put the home side up 35 – 30 at the interval. 

Liverpool dug in at the start of the third quarter to pull within three before Sahr Komba picked up his game and got his running game in motion. Odulaja and Paul ‘Cherry’ Mundy-Castle continued to drive at Liverpool, drawing fouls as the quarter ended, building a 51 – 43 cushion heading into the final period. 

The fourth quarter was all West Herts, as the team continued it’s defensive pressure to hold Liverpool to just 5pts in the period. Cherry was scoring from all angles and the team began to feed Burgess inside who scored easily on the tired Liverpool defense. Luke Patterson rounded off a fine team effort with a three pointer on the final buzzer to give a convincing victory to West Herts at 72 – 48. The win ensured that West Herts remained top of the table and was the team’s sixth straight win. 

West Herts Scorers: Tayo Odulaja 23, Paul Mundy-Castle 12, Sahr Komba 9, Ritchie Burgess 9, Leon Bernard 8, Luke Patterson 5, Rafe Abrook 2, Jon-Paul Cox 2, James Tye 2, Jock Mackay 

Liverpool Scorers: Adam Nowell 13, B Scharrenwebber 12, Kenny Chendo 11, Glyn Hunter 5, Andrew Swanson 3, Michael Embaye 2, Ayham Mattar 2, R Barrios

Northampton Neptunes                        64                        (15, 24, 43)                        Spatcher 17; Mclean 17; Taylor 12

Tamar Valley Cannons                        71                        (12, 31, 51)                        Zepheralera ? 18; Hatchell 13; Gilwood 10

The Northampton Neptunes were just edged out by the Tamar Valley Cannon in a controversial game.

The Cannons turned up to the game with no player licences. The game was played as a friendly but it looks as though Northampton may be awarded a 20 – 0 victory due to a breach of rules which does not permit any team to play without their licences present. 

The Northampton side will have to play the waiting game till the end of the week when the England Basketball committee meet to decide the out come of the game. Both referees stated that the game could go ahead in the pre-game meeting but also notified both coaches that Northampton would be entitled to the 20  - 0 victory. 

The Neptunes were not back to full strength as they originally thought they would be after Joe-Cachia Reynoso was struggling with a sore back and Devon Adams had to fly out to New York because of a family death.

However the Neptunes had a good start to the game as they took a 15 – 12 lead over the Plymouth side.

In the second quarter the Neptunes were playing pretty well but were struggling to make there shots as the Cannons took a 31 – 24 lead into the break.

After the break the Neptunes trailed by a couple of scores for much of the second half , with just two minutes remaining the Neptunes were down by just three points after back to back three’s from Spatcher and a quick two pointer from Mcleod. However two big decisions went against the Neptunes which then lead to a shortage of time left in the game. The Neptunes intentionally sent the Cannons to the line but the Plymouth side sank their free throws to go on to win by seven points.  

After the game the Northampton Captain Mark Spatcher said “We played ok today we just didn’t make some of our shot that we normally make. I’m glad the game still went ahead even though the officials said that the game would be awarded to us, irrelevant of the result it was important that we didn’t have a break in our schedule as we are trying to build on last Sunday’s performance and it was important that the lads got another game in their legs”.  

Top scorers for the Neptunes were Mark Spatcher with 18 points while Mcleod hit 15 and Simon Taylor notched up 12 points. 

The Neptunes now play away in North Wales this Sunday against the NEWI Nets. Tip off is at 3pm.

Express conquer the Romans 

WNC Mansfield Express 78

Team Bath Romans 70

Match report by Philip Mitchell 

After the last two victorious weekends away it was back to Mansfield leisure centre for a pulsating game against Team Bath Romans. Express realised that Bath would have a game plan and strategy – to stop Drew DeMuth scoring and stifle the Express game plan. 

Express opened the scoring early on through Gary Collins with a quick reply from Gerry Armstrong. DeMuth opened his account for the evening with one from the line and Collins scored another two down the lane. DeMuth was starting to have an impact on the game with a power shot, and then Dave Watts added three more points. With the score at 13-4 to Express the partisan home crowd thought this would be another massive score from Express – leaving the opposition defeated and demoralised; how wrong they were as Bath fought back. First through Ashley Ward and then Richard Millbourne, Bath had managed to reduce the deficit to one point 13-12 to Express. DeMuth then added more points only for Kelly to reply for Bath. Martyn Blankley had the last basket of this tempestuous quarter making the score 20 –14 to Express. 

Bath started the better of the two teams in the second quarter with Arthur Robinson bringing the deficit back to one point, until Matt Shaw scored one from outside the arc and DeMuth powered through for another two. Watts then turned on the style with a dunk, back to back baskets for DeMuth with Kelly for Bath squeezing one in somewhere between the torrent of baskets from Express. Watts and Blankley combined well at the end of the quarter to open up a 38-32 lead. 

In the third after Shaw had started with a three pointer and a quick reply from Robinson for Bath. DeMuth went on the attack and nobody could stop him, scoring eleven points in the quarter, Blankley assisted and scored one of his own baskets during the rampant scoring of DeMuth. Bath found little resistance and could only score through Kelly, Robinson & Ward. The score was tight 56-50 to Express, so Coach Chris Squire would expect full commitment to go and win the last quarter. 

Express managed to open up the lead to 10 points early on in the final quarter though Shaw, DeMuth and then Collins. With the score at 63-53 to Express the game had gone beyond redemption for Bath as they were getting in to foul trouble. A great tap in from Watts as the ball was going towards the hoop, and with more from Blankley, Collins, Shaw and DeMuth – this showed what an all-round team performance it had been for the Express. Armstrong, Kelly and Ward kept a tight grip on the game for Bath to enable the score to finish 78-70 to Express. 

Top Scorers – Express: - DeMuth 30 (And 16 Rebounds), Watts 13 and Shaw 11

Team Bath: - Kelly 19, Ward 13 and Robinson 12 

Coach Squire commented after the game – this was not the nicest of basketball games – but we had to work hard to enable us to win tonight.

The next game is away on the 28th January when Express visit Colchester United with a 4.00pm tip off. Venue: University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, CO4 3SQ.  Tel.: 01206 873 250 

In February Express have four home games with Leicester (4th), Aston (11th), Liverpool (18th) and Northampton (25th) making the visit to Mansfield.

w/e 15/01/06

Derby vanquished in part 1 of West Herts double header  Warriors 86 – Derby 73 

UH West Herts Warriors faced back to back matches last weekend on the road, knowing that 2 wins would serve them well and potentially get them back atop the division. Hosts Derby had previously suffered a large defeat at the Hertfordshire Sports Village back in October, but since then had gone on to become one of the top teams in EBL2, so nothing was taken for granted. 

After a sharp start for the home side, Warriors quickly established themselves in the first quarter getting 9pts from Tayo Odulaja, and several big rebounds from power forward Leon Bernard. Paul Mundy-Castle was also sharp and got to the ring twice in the period. Warriors won the quarter 23 - 16 while trying to keep the large Derby crowd as quiet as possible. 

The second quarter saw Odulaja again hitting from inside and out, with Sahr Komba also coming on song. Luke Patterson stepped up to hit a big three himself, as the Warriors guards combined to keep Derby’s top scorer Simon Spencer quiet. A fairly even quarter ended the half at 40 – 31 to West Herts. 

After Simon Allaway threatened to tie the scores early in the second half for Derby, Warriors opened up the game with a strong period of play as the quarter progressed. Komba began to assert himself at the offensive end scoring off jumpers and drives, as Derby focused much of their attention on keeping Odulaja quiet. A 12 – 2 run at the end of the period capped by a jump shot from centre, Rafe Abrook gave West Herts a healthy 61 – 45 heading into the fourth. 

It was all Komba at the start of the fourth as he scored 6pts to open up a 24pt lead for the visitors, which all but ended the game as a contest. Bernard continued to work the glass superbly, collecting a huge 19 rebounds for the game. Paul Bowen, Alistair Hills and Allaway showed some fight for Derby as they outscored West Herts the rest of the way, but they could not dent the lead sufficiently to prevent Warriors walking away with an 86 – 73 road win. Komba finished with a season high 33pts, 5 steals and 4 assists in a superb all around game. 

West Herts Scorers: Sahr Komba 33pts, 5rbs, 4asts, 5stls, Tayo Odulaja 17pts, 5rbs, 5stls, Leon Bernard 12pts, 19rbs, Paul Mundy –Castle 8pts, 3asts, Rafe Abrook 5pts, 6rbs, 3asts, Ritchie Burgess 3pts, 6rbs, Luke Patterson 3pts, 3rbs, Jock Mackay 3pts, 3rbs, James Tye 2pts, 2asts, Jon-Paul Cox 

Derby Scorers: Simon Allaway 26pts, 8rbs, 3stls, Alistair Hills 13pts, 4asts, Paul Bowen 10pts, 11rbs, Simon Spencer 9pts, 6asts, Kyle Henderson 6pts, Diego Benito 5pts, 9rbs, Robbie Bowen 2pts, 2rbs, Anthony Scott 2pts, 2stls

Warriors round off road trip with win at Aston,  Warriors 87 – Aston Athletics 80 

The second of West Herts back to back road games was at previously unknown Aston in Birmingham, who Warriors had not previously faced. Despite a late arrival for most of the squad, West Herts began the game brightly with Sahr Komba picking up where he’d left off at Derby by scoring 7pts in the opening 4 mins. Leon Bernard was also showing no signs of fatigue after his big night at Derby and threw down the first of 3 vicious slams in the opening quarter. Tayo Odulaja also warmed up as the quarter progressed taking advantage of the single coverage to score on several tough drives to the hoop to earn West Herts a 25 – 15 advantage late in the first period. 

Aston rallied early in the second quarter, but Warriors soon regained control as Bernard again rose to tip slam home a rebound over 2 helpless defenders, giving the whole team a boost. With the quiet Aston centre proving to be a very different venue to Derby’s Moorlands venue, the West Herts bench began to get vocal and willed it’s team to a 45 – 25 lead late in the first half, as Jon-Paul Cox came on to establish his presence with a well taken three pointer and two free throws. Odulaja continued his blazing form by scoring on 2 ‘and 1’ drives to the hoop. 

The third quarter saw a change in momentum as Aston dug in deep and turned up their defensive intensity forcing West Herts turnovers to claw the game back to 54 – 55 after a 20 – 7 run that undid West Herts first half efforts. Thankfully Odulaja and Bernard were still able to draw fouls on Aston and the quarter ended 60 – 54 to the visitors. Sadly Ritchie Burgess saw the wrong side of the referees whistle three times in short succession, and was subsequently benched. 

Warriors started the fourth quarter strongly with Odulaja and Bernard continuing to attack the rim at every opportunity. Rafe Abrook and Bernard crashed the defensive boards to prevent second shots for Aston which had helped get them back in the game and Komba was able to score on the break to re-establish a 72 – 60 lead. After Aston pulled the game back to 66 – 72, Bernard and Abrook hit back to back shots, before Paul Mundy-Castle asserted himself on the game. A few defensive lapses saw Aston creep back to within 5 at 73 – 78 and Abrook and Mundy-Castle managed to make the next 6 Warriors free throws to keep ahead. Mundy-Castle put his exclamation point on the game with a three point play just before the final buzzer to seal the deal for West Herts. 

The 2 wins see West Herts back to the top of the leaderboard in the tight EBL Div 2. 

West Herts Scorers: Tayo Odulaja 30, Sahr Komba 16, Leon Bernard 14, Paul Mundy-Castle 13, Rafe Abrook 6, Jon-Paul Cox 5, Luke Patterson 2, James Tye 1, Jock Mackay, Ritchie Burgess, Martin Dyke 

Aston Scorers: Alan Bean 20, W Robinson 19, R Prince 17, Carl White 9, S Richards 6, I Buchanan 6, M Gayle 3, Marcellus Elfrey, James Chong, Guy Hawke

Double delight for Express 

Saturday 14th January

Plymouth Raiders II 61

WNC Mansfield Express 74

 

Sunday 15th January

Tamar Valley Cannons 74

WNC Mansfield Express 81

 

Match reports by Philip Mitchell 

What was billed as the biggest weekend away for Express – playing two strong teams from Plymouth and managing to come away victorious made the long travel to the south west seem all the better. With Drew DeMuth now settled in with the squad, he was the player who made the difference at both games – being top scorer on both occasions. Express have now managed to secure second place in the league because of these two outstanding wins. 

In what was an epic battle in the first quarter, both sides traded baskets early on. Only then did Drew DeMuth, Ben Middleton and Mark Jones apply pressure alongside McGaffin from the line to open up a lead of 20-15 helped along the way by some great defence to restrict the opposition.

The second quarter started with Express losing their rhythm at the restart & the defence was hard pressed as the Raiders stepping up the pace & cut the lead to 1. Express continued to struggle throughout the quarter as baskets would not drop and  Plymouth scoring improved, by half way through Express trailed by two at 26-24.

Express worked hard after effective time out by coach Squire, baskets where traded evenly but Express clawed it back to 32-30 with one and half minutes to go, good defence resulted in the half finishing at 36-31 to Express.

Through the first half coach Squire had used the bench to good effect bearing in mind this was a double-header weekend in the southwest.

Both defences were more effective than the offence as the quarter got underway with few points being scored at either end, DeMuth bagged consecutive baskets with Raiders replying with two of their own. Mid point in the quarter the score was 40-37 to Express. This was a low scoring quarter end at 46-46.

All now depended on the fourth quarter which team would prove to have the nerve & ability to win this close game. Express started with two quick breaks & had clearly stepped up the offensive pace to go with the excellent defence they had been playing all game. More valuable points from Blankley gave Express a six point lead with just over five minutes remaining. More quick points from Shaw & the continuous even scoring of DeMuth saw Express start to edge away. With the score at 61-52 in favour of Express, the home side were not going to give up & Express could not pull away any further to kill the game. Baskets were traded, time outs were more frequent Express were still leading 65-54, however, with Raiders in trouble Express tightened their grip. More great defence & fast breaks widened the gap to 70-56 with just over a minute to go. Express was in very determined mood & ran out worthy winners 61-74 at the end of an even game right up to the 4th quarter. 

Express understandably took a while to warm up to this game being hit by some hard offence by the home team who were on a six game winning run coming in to the game. Express’s defence dug in but could not stop the home team from taking an early lead. Tamar’s big defenders were giving no quarter under the basket to DeMuth & Middleton. Hard work & skill brought the scores level & at the end of the first quarter it was just a one-point game to the home side, 19-18.

The second quarter saw a stronger start by Express who had now adjusted to the pace of this game and managed a quick 6 points to go 24-19 up early on into the quarter. Even a time out by Tamar & a clash of knees resulting in Middleton having to receive treatment could not stop a fired up Express. Coach Squire team talk had done the trick as Express presses home the advantage & with half the quarter gone the scoring mainly coming from Shaw & DeMuth. Tamar had to call another time out to stem the flow of points after which the quarter was more even as Tamar dug in on defence & offence. Express was ahead by 10 with score at 34-44 at the buzzer for half time.

Tamar must have had a really stiff half time talking to from their coach as they came out for the third quarter all guns blazing & scored eight unanswered points to narrow the gap to two, Express could not buy a basket & lost possession a number times. Now it was coach Squire’s turn to shout & call a time out. Mid way through the quarter & with an 11-0 run the home side had fought back to be ahead by one. Tamar had found a way of preventing both Shaw & DeMuth from scoring. Express racked up their first points of the quarter with only four minutes remaining to level the scores at 47-47.  The home side had regained their early confidence while Express looked tired, Tamar scored more points making it 56-48, but even a late rally by Express could not prevent the end of quarter score looking bad for Express at 59-52 to Tamar

A massive effort was now required in the final quarter by Express or the long drive north would seem even longer. 

Jones hit his first points of the game with a three, grit, determination as well as good coaching & good basketball saw Express bring the scores level at 62-62 with seven minutes remaining.  The home side had chalked up a high foul count in their efforts to stem the flow of points in the second quarter that they now lost first one then a second to 5 fouls, much to their benches annoyance. Baskets were traded for the next four minutes, the scores remaining level at 69-69. The turning point late on was great defence from Express for the rest of the game pulled it back to lead 76-74 with 23 seconds remaining, a last time out was called by Tamar Express regained possession from another turnover at the restart and kept possession to run out winners at 74-81.

This was a tremendous effort from the whole team halting the impressive run of six wins in a row by Tamar.

Coach Squire was glowing with pride at his team’s performance on the day & over the two games. "They are a great bunch of young athletes" he said, "It’s a joy to coach." 

 

This Saturday night will see the visit of Team Bath Romans to the Leisure Centre with a tip off time of 8.00pm. Express now have the chance to become championship contenders over the next few weeks and need your support. In February Express have a home game every Saturday night (4th- Leicester, 11th-Aston, 18th- Liverpool and 25th -Northampton) and you could make a difference by cheering the players on to win.

Liverpool BC                           97

Northampton Neptunes         74

 

Derby Trailblzers                      75

Northampton Neptunes         91

 

The Northampton Neptunes got themselves back to winning ways on Sunday as they convincingly beat local rivals the Derby Trail Blazers. 

It wasn’t all smiles on Saturday though for the Northampton lads as they disappointingly gave the win to Liverpool side after careless turn over’s and poor defence in the 3rd quarter saw the northern side get the win. However the following day the Neptunes were determined to get the win that they had desperately been wanting after a string of losses. 

The Neptunes certainly looked to be playing more consistent on Sunday against the trailblazers, although there was nothing to fancy from the Neptunes in the first half they did look a lot more compose at both ends of the floor, which saw them go into half time 44 – 47 behind. Unfortunately the Neptunes Captain Mark Spatcher got into foul trouble as he picked up his 3rd personal foul which was followed by a 4th technical foul meaning he had to go to the bench just in case he got called for his 5th before the break, good thing for the Neptunes was that Simon Taylor and Ben Knight both had solid first half for the Neptunes to help keep them in touch. 

The Neptunes reduced the lead to just two points with just over a minute left remaining in the 3rd before Mike Mcleod was given a double technical which took him to five fouls, this force the Neptunes into bringing back Spatcher who really didn’t want to return until the 4th quarter. However this fired up the Neptunes as they felt they were being hard done by the ref’s. The Neptunes dug their heels in and managed to take the lead back at the end of the 3rd 64 – 63.  

The final quarter saw the Neptunes at there best, the tempo was upped as Carlton and Spatcher knocked out two three pointers which was followed by a Ben Knight dunk and a further ten points from Spatcher in the final quarter sealed the win and got the Neptunes back on track. 

After the game the Northampton Captain Mark Spatcher said “I’m really happy that we got back to winning ways today, we’ve had a tough few weeks without all of our team being available for various reasons, next week we’re back to full strength, I’ve also had the opportunity to evaluate the team a little better what with not player many minutes at the weekend due to foul trouble, so I’m starting to feel better again about the direction that we’re trying to move this team in. I should also mention Ben Knight had an excellent game at the weekend and when he’s in that frame of mind there’s no reason why he cant do that every weekend, so I’m happy for him to”.  

Top scorers for the Neptunes were Simon Taylor with 28 points while Mcleod, Spatcher, Knight and Carlton all hit double figures.  

The Neptunes now play at home this Sunday against the Tamar Valley Cannons. Tip off is at 4pm gate opens at 3.30pm.

w/e 08/01/06

First quarter West Herts blitz sees them past Northampton 96 - 75 

UH West Herts Warriors returned fresh from the Christmas break eager to pick up where they left off in winning form during December after recovering from a sticky November. Fast starting Northampton Neptunes away however always proves a tricky fixture and with their run and gun style a fast tempo is not always welcome after 2 weeks inactivity. With both teams tied with Leicester and Derby on points prior to the game, the victorious team would therefore go clear at the top of the table. Northampton were without their star big man, Cachia Reynoso however who was away on holiday, while Warriors head coach had the rare luxury of picking 10 players from a squad of 14 for the match. 

Neptunes struck first with a Mike McLeod three, followed shortly by a score inside off a baseline play for Rafe Abrook who was playing at centre. Simon Taylor hit a jump shot in response for the home side and Warriors Leon Bernard crashed the offensive boards to earn two foul shots. Paul Mundy-Castle in starting his first Warriors game drove inside for two, before McLeod hit again. A Tayo Odulaja three followed shortly but at this stage the scores were knotted at 9 a piece. With Mundy-Castle’s quickness causing the Neptunes defence problems he continued to pick up the tempo for West Herts as team mates ran the floor to beat the Northampton defence up court. An Abrook jump shot and identical baseline play helped build momentum, and a Simon Taylor three for Neptunes with 6 minutes gone would be their last field goal of the quarter as the Warriors kicked into fifth gear. Mundy-Castle continued to get to the rim with ease and set up Bernard for a driving two, after which Odulaja assisted to Abrook for a two handed dunk on the break. With the scores now at 26 – 16 to Warriors there was no let up and Ritchie Burgess subbed on for Abrook to continue the onslaught, by converting missed shots and assists inside from point blank range. Jon-Paul Cox came on to score two off a drive, and Bernard showed some great post moves inside using the glass to his advantage. Two final free throws at the end of the first would see West Herts tally for the quarter up to 40, with Northampton at 20. All this from a team who back in November scored only 5 against Bath in the first quarter! 

Neptunes wisely switched up their defence in the second quarter and it took time for West Herts to adjust. With Warriors offence struggling, Northampton were able to find baskets through captain Mark Spatcher and Ben Knight, while Bernard and Burgess worked the glass to get their scored for West Herts. Odulaja converted four shots from the foul line, and Jock Mackay came off the bench to score on a drive, but Devon Adams scored twice for Neptunes at the end of the half and another three for Taylor saw the gap closed to 52 – 39 at half time. 

Warriors did not panic in the third quarter and after struggling to find the basket for the first few minutes they then ran off 13 straight courtesy of some great team defence. Sahr Komba came alive alongside Odulaja and both players found Burgess inside for 2 baskets. Odulaja slammed home two points on the break, but with the score then at 67 – 43, Northampton once again found their trademark three point range and sank four straight triples to pull themselves back in the game in a 16 – 3 run to end the quarter that saw them bring the score back to 70 – 69. 

Despite this, Warriors came out strong again in the fourth quarter with Komba hitting from all angles to rattle off 9 of West Herts first 12 pts of the period. Ross Carlton offered resistance for Neptunes with some sharp play, but a lay up for Luke Patterson saw West Herts hold a commanding 87 – 66 lead with 4 minutes to play. A big block on Spatcher for Abrook, and continued pressuring of the guards from Mundy-Castle, Komba and Patterson did not allow the Northampton shooters a chance to find a rhythm. Komba and Odulaja brought the game home in the final minutes to a final score of 96 – 75, with a solid win that would set Warriors up well for the second half of the season. 

Both coaches Harrison and McElduff were very pleased with the team’s performance given they only had one training session prior to the fixture, and they hope the players can carry this form over the double header they face this weekend away at Derby and Aston. 

West Herts Scorers: Tayo Odulaja 22, Sahr Komba 20, Paul Mundy-Castle 14, Ritchie Burgess 13, Leon Bernard 11, Rafe Abrook 9, Luke Patterson 3, Jock Mackay 2, Jon-Paul Cox 2, Martin Dyke 

Northampton Scorers: Ross Carlton 14, Mike McLeod 13, Simon Taylor 13, Ben Knight 11, Mark Spatcher 7, Devon Adams 7, Alex Birch 6, J Majcher 4, Mark Gledhill

'The Moose' is back with a bang

NEWI Nets                         77

WNC Mansfield Express 98
Report by Phil Mitchell

'THE Moose' was back with a bang for WNC Mansfield Express as they kept their title hopes alive in Wales last weekend.

Last season's all time Express record points scorer, American Drew DeMuth, known as The Moose, has re-signed for the remainder of the season and, after all the stops were pulled out, he was registered in time for the trip to NEWI Nets.

Express went into the game having lost four and won five games and, as there is no clear leader at this stage, there is still a very good chance that with a good run of victories, that elusive championship remains still in their hands. Nets ran Express very close back in September and were unlucky to go home with a 66-63 loss. Nets had played on Saturday night and beat Colchester so this one was going to be a tight game.

With Express playing in unfamiliar red and green, DeMuth went straight into the starting five as predicted with Mansfield hoping the cold lava bread and jet lag would not get to him. But the first points went to DeMuth in just 30 seconds after assists from the whole of the team.

The first downtown three went to David 'Tin Tin' Watts to put Express into a 9-6 early lead.

But NEWI were, as expected, coming back with good coast to coast plays and working well as a team. Matt Shaw was consistently getting fouled and was put to the line and responded with six out of six. Not to be outdone Ramburuth hit a long three on the buzzer to bring it back to 20-20 at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter belonged to Express with DeMuth starting to get into his rhythm, scoring 18 of the team's 28 points. It was not going all their own way as NEWI went into a 34-33 lead, but this must have shaken the Reds into action as they went on a 15-6 streak into half time. It was not pretty, Nets had to foul DeMuth to stop him, and this resulted in half of his points coming from the free throw line. A free throw from Dan Watts, four from David Watts and two from Ben Middleton added this to.

NEWI points came from just two players - six from Duppa and the irrepressible Steve Flannagan who came through with 11 points personal, but was racking up his foul points total. The half finished with Mansfield leading by just nine points at 48-39, setting the game up for a scintillating second half.

The third quarter was where Express arguably put this game beyond the reach of NEWI. It was much more of a team effort with points coming from across the team. They defended well despite frequent changes of personnel and restricted the opposition to just 13 points. Star of the quarter for Express was David Watts putting 10 from the floor and a free throw. DeMuth had just five this time, two came from Dan Watts, one from Martyn Blankley, Mark Jones weighed in with a downtown three, Sean Dilks with one and four from an ever improving Gary Collins. Good contributions from Jamie McGaffin and Martin Richards helped Express finish the quarter with a seemingly comfortable 71-52 lead.

With coach Chris Squire away on his winter break the task of getting the team through was left to coaches George Waldron and Phil Storer, and they were clearly looking to run the bench. Shaw broke dramatically back into the scoring with a long three. DeMuth scored just one field goal but was brought to the line eight times and hit four, Dan Watts and Martyn Blankley came through with two apiece, Dominic Murphy pumped in a long three and Gary Collins put in three from six from the line and two from the field. Defensively this was the worst quarter with 25 points being dispatched against them, but Mansfield weighed in with 27 points of their own to finish the game with a 98-77 victory.

Demuth finished with 35 and could have added to this as he missed eight from the line. Watts (19) and Shaw (18) also shone and there were 24 points from the bench that shows the current depth of the squad.

Scorers for Express: Demuth (35), David Watts (19), Shaw (18), Collins (9), Dan Watts (5), Blankley, Jones and Murphy (3), Middleton (2), Dilks (1). Top scorers for NEWI - Duppa & Linsley (17), Flannagan (15).

This victory puts Express third and, with five teams on the same number of defeats as Express, and West Herts Warriors having lost three, there is everything to play for.

Next weekend sees back to back away games on Saturday and Sunday against Plymouth Raiders on Saturday and second placed Tamar Valley Cannons on Sunday. These two tough games will determine if Express are capable of winning the championship, two wins will set them up for the home game against Team Bath at Mansfield Leisure Centre on 21st January with an 8pm tip-off.
 

w/e 18/12/05

West Herts back to second place with victory over Plymouth 88 - 78 

UH West Herts Warriors managed to build on the momentum of their strong win at Mansfield by successfully defending their home court against a plucky Plymouth Raiders 2 team. With Leon Bernard returning from injury after a six game absence, the Warriors frontcourt received a boost while the backcourt was solidified with the return of both Luke Patterson and Paul Mundy-Castle. 

During the opening exchanges the game remained close as Sahr Komba and Jamie Burchell were the main danger men for each team, before Jean Wakanena went off for 8 unanswered points in the middle of the first quarter. Shortly thereafter a potent spell of play for Warriors saw them go on a 16 – 0 run courtesy of both Komba and Odulaja who excelled in the open court after solid Warriors defence. 

With Warriors up 28 – 23 at the start of the second period Saul Rodgers became a problem for Warriors with his outside shooting. Warriors however were able to find seven foot Ritchie Burgess inside for 7pts in the quarter, to help maintain a 45 – 38 half time lead. 

Early in the second half a strong outside shooting display from Odulaja and Patterson opened things up even more at 58 – 42, but Wakanena and Burchell combined to pull the game back to within 5 pts at 56 – 61. Towards the back end of the third period Bernard and Jock Mackay began to attack the hoop and draw fouls on Plymouth and West Herts took a 70 – 63 advantage into the final period. 

Plymouth attacked Warriors hard at the start of the fourth quarter and with some solid outside shooting (which would be their calling card for the game), would manage to pull the game back again to within 3pts with less than 2 minutes to play. Warriors were able however to draw fouls on Plymouth during this period and made 8 out of 10 free shots the rest of the way to bring the win home at 88 – 78, with both Odulaja and Komba once again scoring 20+ pts each for the game. 

The win puts West Herts in a four way tie with Derby, Northampton and Leicester for the top spot in EBL2, with a second placing courtesy of pts difference. West Herts Warriors would like to take this opportunity to wish all fans and opponents a happy Christmas, as they look forward  to playing more exciting basketball in 2006!  

West Herts Scorers: Tayo Odulaja 27, Sahr Komba 23, Ritchie Burgess 9, Luke Patterson 8, James Tye 6, Leon Bernard 6, Rafe Abrook 5, Jock Mackay 2, Paul Mundy-Castle 2, Martin Dyke 

Plymouth Scorers: Jean Wakanena 26, Jamie Burchell 16, Saul Rodgers 12, Ian Spearman 8, Matt Peard 7, Tim Cufford 7, David Clift 2, Annti Nykanen, A Coyle

Agony as Express loose epic battle 

Derby Trailblazers 62

WNC Mansfield Express 57

Match report by Philip Mitchell 

This was the climax to the season so far with second placed Trailblazers taking on third placed Express. Both teams had already played each other in the Patrons cup – in what was nail biting pulsating games for both sets of supporters. This game had more twists than the X-Factor and Strictly Come Dancing could put together. Would the fortune change for Express – even the fortuneteller wouldn’t predict the outcome on this game. 

Coach Chris Squire wanted his players to give this game their all since they had suffered a shock defeat the week previous against West Herts. 

The game started with Derby taking an early lead through Simon Allaway and Robbie Bowen, before Dan Watts replied. Robbie Bowen was scoring at some pace and only through Matt Shaw, Ben Middleton and David Watts did the Express keep in contention – to make the score 10-10. This game had the makings of an epic battle to see who could end up at the top of the table. Simon Spencer and veteran player Tim Lascelles opened up the lead for Derby only for Jamie McGaffin and Gary Collins to chase after with little success as the score finished 28 –18 to Derby. 

In the second quarter Express started brightly with three pointers from Dave Watts and Mark Jones – this was eating in to the lead that Derby had managed to amass at the end of the first. Derby were having problems breaking down the Express defence as Shaw stole the ball to score. After that Derby didn’t manage to score within the 24 seconds allocated to them – the ball turned over to Express for Mark Jones to rattle the ball in and collect the extra point as he was fouled on the way to the basket. Express had managed to close down the lead dramatically through Shaw and Martyn Blankley. Collins scored the last basket of the quarter for Express after a great defensive steal and a coast-to-coast run with the ball. The score finished 39-36 to Derby. 

The first two quarters had been action packed and full of incidents from both sides. The third quarter continued in the same vain with Paul Bowen started off the scoring for Derby, only for Dave Watts with an alley-oop, then a great jumper and finally a steal and a jump actually put Express in the lead for the first time in the game at 44-43 to Express. Steve Astle replied for Derby only for Dave Watts and Shaw to extend the lead yet again for Express. Dan Watts then got a defensive rejection to stop Derby scoring; only for Alistar Hills to pop up to score. With the scores at 48 a piece this game had all the makings of going in to overtime as neither team were willing to give up anything – very few chances missed and good defensive play from both sides.

Dave Watts then drove through the defence to score, Collins picked up one from the line for being fouled as he drove at the basket. Express had a three point lead – Paul Bowen for Derby thought otherwise as he hustled to score another two. Collins scored the last basket managing to score from the line as the resolute Derby defence were trying to make sure that Express had little chance of getting the ball through the hoop. The score finished 52-50 to Express. 

The final quarter would be the undoing of one team, as somebody had to come out victorious. Steve Astle scored five without reply, and then Shaw scored one from the line. Allaway increased Derby’s lead again only for Middleton to score after Dan Watts had faked the shot at the basket. Hills again scored for Derby with a quick reply from Dave Watts. With the score at 60-57 to Derby and two and a half minutes left on the clock coach Squire called a time out to settle the players down; it worked, as there were three consecutive 24-second violations   against Derby but how ever hard Express tried the ball would not drop through the hoop and Spencer had the last shot for Derby to finish the game 62-57. 

Top scorers for:-

Derby Trailblazers: Allaway 16, Spencer and Lascelles 9,

WNC Mansfield Express :Dave Watts and Matt Shaw 15, Gary Collins 7 

This was an intense game of basketball, to which coach Squire was not overly disappointed about. After the Christmas and New Year break Express face 3 games on the road NEWI Nets (8th), Plymouth Raiders (14th) and Tamar Valley Cannons (15th). The next home game is on the 21st January when Express face Team Bath Romans

w/e 11/12/05

West Herts back to winning ways courtesy of Mansfield Express  84 - 70 

UH West Herts Warriors rekindled another old rivalry with last year’s playoff semi final opponents, Mansfield Express on Saturday. All West Herts – Mansfield games have been entertaining for the fans, and this one would become another treat for the Mansfield faithful, although sadly with a result that would favour the visitors. West Herts faced some line up issues, with 3 of the team’s four ball handlers unavailable on the day (Luke Patterson, ‘Cherry’ Mundy-Castle, and Jon-Paul Cox), however James Tye was ready to run the offence, with support from the wingmen when necessary. 

Coach Harrison employed a similar tactic to the previous match up by putting athletic wing forwards, Sahr Komba and Marlon Munro on Express point guard Matt Shaw, so that their size and quickness could help contain him, and protect Tye from early foul trouble. Unfortunately this tactic only worked in as much as Shaw was kept under control early, but Tye still managed to pick up 3 first quarter fouls anyway. Komba got on the scoreboard first with a breaking layup off the Express miss, with Dave Watts answering with a finger roll of his own. West Herts then attacked Mansfield right down the middle of the court with Munro driving uncontested to the rim. Big centre, Ritchie Burgess cleaned up a Warriors miss for two, and power forward Rafe Abrook scored a baby hook shot off a baseline play to put Warriors up 8 – 2 early. Watts responded with a well taken three pointer, followed by two more on the break, before Abrook stepped outside to coolly sink a rare three pointer in response. More tough Warriors defence saw a turnover converted into 2 fast break points for Komba, and Mansfield could only put points on the board through the foul line for the next 4 minutes, as West Herts pressured Mansfield’s start point guard and captain, Matt Shaw. With Komba continuing to beat the Mansfield defence down court, Tayo Odulaja joined the scoring party late in the first quarter and finished a steal with a trademark dunk, which would be the first of many, and following it up with a three pointer. Another rebound and put back for Burgess would end a productive Warriors first quarter with the score at 26 – 15 to the visitors. 

If the first quarter had gone well for West Herts, the second would start even better as there was no let up in the intensity on defence, with Munro and Odulaja twice being the beneficiaries of Warriors breaking style. Martin Dyke came on to knock down his first attempted jump shot, and a 10 – 0 Warriors run saw them lead by and impressive 21pts at 36 – 15 with 3 and a half minutes gone into the period. A tough floater by Daniel Watts would mark the beginning of a Mansfield fight back, and would bring a temporary end to Warriors spell of dominance, as West Herts failed to move the ball as effectively as before. David Watts would energise the crowd with a big dunk of his own, and his team mates fed off the energy, with Shaw stepping up his play, with Odulaja being the only response for Warriors during a 16 – 4 Mansfield run that brought the score back to 31 – 40. Free throws for Shaw would end the half at 33 – 42 to Warriors, who despite losing momentum, still held a decent lead. 

In the second half Shaw squared off with rival point guard James Tye as each scored 4 points each after the restart, with Tye showing his outside shooting touch, with Odulaja finishing another break with a reverse slam. An Abrook drive to the basket marked the start of another Warriors run as Komba and Odulaja again ran amuck on offence, as Burgess continued to swat Mansfield shot attempts with impunity, erasing 8 in total for the game. Jock Mackay came on for West Herts, and depite getting in foul trouble, he was able to contribute to the pressure defence, getting his hands in on loose balls, and setting up the Warriors counter attack. Odulaja’s final fast break dunk for the quarter saw Warriors ahead 59 – 44 heading into the final quarter. 

Burgess scored inside at the start of the fourth quarter but the Watts brothers showed resistance as Daniel took it at Burgess inside scoring twice on floating shots just out of the reach of Burgess, and David got to the foul line to convert one of two. Odulaja answered with another two, shortly followed by a put back for Abrook and more free throws for Komba and Tye, as the two teams traded points for a brief period, with Mansfield unable to make further gains on clawing back at West Herts lead. With Shaw refusing to lie down, the game remained undecided at 59 – 71 before another score for Komba plus two more made free throws for Tye stretched the lead back to 14. Abrook then got into the highlight reel with a two handed slam on a 2 on 1 break with Komba to all but end Mansfield’s hopes of a late comeback. With David Watts and Shaw both fouling out in the final minutes, it was left to Gary Collins to keep the score ticking over for Mansfield as Odulaja and West Herts ran away with the win to a final score of 84 – 70. Odulaja’s big 30 point night marked a return to form, and Warriors were able to grab a big road win in the face of adversity. Warriors last game of 2005 is a home fixture vs recently improved Plymouth Raiders 2 this Saturday. 

West Herts Scorers: Tayo Odulaja 30, Sahr Komba 19, Rafe Abrook 13, James Tye 8, Marlon Munro 6, Ritchie Burgess 6, Martin Dyke 2, Jock Mackay 

Mansfield Scorers: Matt Shaw 25, David Watts 19, Gary Collins 10, Daniel Watts 6, Ben Middleton 5, M Jones 3, Jamie McGaffin 2, Martyn Blankley, Michael Elland, Sean Dilks

Express derailed by Warriors

WNC Mansfield Express 70

West Herts Warriors 84

Match report by Philip Mitchell

After last weekends win over Northampton Neptunes, a resurgent Express had to face West Herts Warriors who had gone on a three game loosing streak and were looking for a win. Express had to make sure that complacency had not set in and treat every game on its individual merit – going for a win and nothing else. The opposition had some big players though (with one at nearly 7’0”) – that though should not deter Express in any way what so ever.

The Express was left at the platform early on as the Warriors started this game in top gear with their foot down and no sign of them applying the brakes. With Ritchie Burgess, Sahr Komba and Tayo Odulaja scoring freely for the Warriors – the visitors had managed to open a 26- 15 lead; with only Dave Watts and Matt Shaw scoring for Express in the first quarter. This lead for the Warriors would be one that they would never relinquish all night long.

In the second the visitors compounded the misery early on with a dunk from Odulaja, only through the Watts brothers and Shaw did Express keep a grip of the game as at one stage the visitors had opened a 19-point lead. Express had to battle all the way to half time to reduce the deficit down to 9 points with the score finishing 42-33 to the Warriors.

The third quarter was a low scoring one – both teams needed to sort their game plan and tactics out; there were a large amount of turnovers and missed chances from both sides. It didn’t help when the score board failed tow and a half minutes in to the quarter and Express had to find the small portable on to continue the game; this just added to the delay. Shaw, Dave Watts and Ben Middleton then did the damage for Express scoring some great baskets. Odulaja for the visitors was still the thorn in the side for Express – they were not able to close him down – he was still managing to get free reign of the court. The score finished 59-44 to the visitors. This deficit was still attainable for Express if the players gave it their all in the final quarter.

The final quarter had plenty of action; the Watts brothers combining early on with some great moves under the basket, only for Odulaja and Komba to pop up again and score. Then Shaw along with Gary Collins managed to get back in the action with some great hustling under the basket to score more baskets. With five minutes left the game had gone beyond redemption for Express and it was just a case of keeping the deficit down to a minimum and keeping some pride within the team. The score finished 84 –70 to the visitors, but Express battled all night long and never gave up.

Top Scorers:

Express:- Matt Shaw 25, Dave Watts 20, Gary Collins 10

Warriors:- Tayo Odulaja 33, Sahr Komba 19, Rafe Abrook 10 

The next game is away against 2nd placed Derby Trailblazers on the 17th December – venue Moorways Sports Centre (off A5111 Derby Ring Road) – tip off time 7.30pm.

w/e 04/12/05

West Herts put up gallant effort, but still fall to Leicester 70 - 73 

UH West Herts Warriors faced old rivals Leicester Warriors in a home match they desperately needed to win to stay in the chasing pack in EBL2. West Herts would however be without the services of seven footer, Ritchie Burgess who’s jet lag from a return trip to the states that day forced him into a sort of semi-coma from which even his alarm clock failed to rouse him from. Also unavailable was reserve guard Jon-Paul Cox. 

Sadly for the West Herts faithful their team began cold for the third game in a row, failing once again to score double digits in the first quarter. The game started reasonably brightly for the home team as Sahr Komba opened the scoring from the foul line, followed by baskets for Jock Mackay and Tayo Odulaja, with a Courtney Davis three pointer being the only response for Leicester. ‘Cherry’ Mundy-Castle came on to earn two foul shots of his own, but Drew Barratt, Dave Greenaway and Sloane Francis were causing problems by driving inside for scores to put the visitors up 16 – 8 at the end of the first quarter. 

At the start of the second quarter, Martin Dyke marked his return to form with a smoothly despatched long jump shot, and Rafe Abrook went to work in the low post for two. A jump shot for Luke Patterson, and two more from the low block for Abrook pulled the game back to 17 – 20, before Davis and Greenaway responded for Leicester. Komba then single-handedly kept West Herts in the game with a jump shot, followed by fast break conversions to score the next 6 for the home side, but a Tom Fowler three pointer stretched the lead to 30 – 23 before Abrook and Odulaja each scored to end the half with West Herts trailing 27 – 30. 

After Davis extended the Leicester lead by 2, West Herts got to work holding Leicester scoreless for three minutes and putting 6 pts on the board to go ahead by one at 33 – 32. Under the tension of a tight match, both coaches frustrations began to boil over as both picked up technical fouls, with Abrook sinking one of two foul shots. Komba and Mackay scored off drives inside, and Patterson added another free throw. 4 minutes into the half the game swung Leicester’s way as Fowler and Barrett combined to put together 10 unanswered Leicester points to open a 9 point gap. Komba led the West Herts fight back, scoring an agile hanging reverse lay up, followed by aggressive drives by Marlon Munro and Mundy-Castle who began to assert himself on the game, scoring on the break and drawing the foul. This all lead to a 16 – 2 run for West Herts to put them up 51 – 46 before Leicester scored two more baskets to end the third quarter 51 – 50 to the home team. 

Leicester started the fourth quarter strongly, and Tomasz Sobiech hit a three to put them up 55 – 51. Komba then dished inside to Abrook for an easy two, shortly followed by two more of his own off the dribble, and another hanging layup for Mackay  to tie the scores. Sobiech struck again for Leicester and was countered by a Komba three pointer, but Sobiech continued to move well off the ball and strike twice more, hitting his second three pointer and putting his team up 65 – 60 with just under 3 minutes to play.

2 free throws for Odulaja were made following a hard foul, but Sobiech answered once more. Patterson and Komba would then go 2 for 4 between them at the foul line to pull within 3,  but Fowler and Sobiech again replied. With a minute to play some fine defensive play from Warriors forced turnovers that Odulaja converted well at the other end to pull within 2 at 68 – 70. A great block from Komba that stopped a certain two from Fowler was adjudged to have been a foul, and he made 1 of 2. Abrook was then fouled driving inside with 23 seconds to play, and coolly sank both free throws to pull the game back to 70 – 71, but Warriors then were forced to foul to stop Leicester running out the clock.

Barrett missed both of his attempts, giving West Herts one more chance, but Patterson was stripped cleanly by a great defensive play by Davis, who was then fouled in an unsportsmanlike way to stop the easy two. He made one foul shot, but Leicester retained possession. Greenaway was then fouled deliberately and made only one of two, to give West Herts a whisker of a chance from the inbounds, but by then only 2 seconds remained on the game clock, and Abrook inbounded to Mackay at mid court who could not get a good enough shot off under pressure, and Leicester ran out winners. 

West Herts now face one of their toughest fixtures of the season at old rivals Mansfield, who they knocked out of the playoff semi finals last year. It should prove to be another fine game, with both teams desperate for the valuable points on offer. 

West Herts Scorers: Sahr Komba 23, Tayo Odulaja 14, Rafe Abrook 11, Paul Mundy-Castle 8, Jock Mackay 6, Luke Patterson 4, Martin Dyke 2, Marlon Munro 2, James Tye, Flo Pfeifer 

Leicester Scorers: Tomasz Sobiech 16, Tom Fowler 14, Courtney Davis 12, Dave Greenaway 11, Drew Barrett 10, Sloane Francis 8, Jermaine Gonsalves 2, Luke Morris, T Smith

Express thrash table topping Neptunes 

Northampton Neptunes 78

WNC Mansfield Express 91

Match report by Philip Mitchell 

WNC Mansfield Express travelled to Northampton on Sunday to face the table topping Neptunes knowing that it would be a tough game. The Neptunes have some big players in Mark Spatcher and Joe Reynoso who can score with ease.

The partisan vociferous crowd at Northampton made this game even more difficult; it was a make or break game for Express who had previously lost at Leicester and Aston a few weeks back. With Martyn Blankley still absent it was down to coach Chris Squire to ask his players to go out there and perform. 

Express started with two 18 year olds Dan Watts and Mark Jones who both continue to play beyond their years. Indeed Dan Watts started the scoring with a nice bank shot as the quarter got of to an action packed start. Both teams exchanged buckets at a fast pace. Six Express players put points on the board with David Watts, Jones and Shaw all connecting with threes. Point guard Carlton was doing the damage for Northampton as his inside outside game helped him to 12 first quarter points. The first stanza ended 19-18 with the Express edging it. 

WNC Express started the second period very well as Shaw and Watts combined for 13 points to open up a 32-23 lead. However, Northampton are a veteran team and aren’t top of the league for no reason. Indeed, nine unanswered points tied the scored as 32 a piece. Express surged again and started bombing in threes. Collins, Shaw and Watts got a total of seven deep ones in the quarter as Express opened another nine point lead at 48-39. A buzzer beating three from Neptunes Birch reduced the deficit and send Northampton into the locker room with some momentum despite being down 48-42. 

Express managed to continue there second quarter form at the start of the third as Middleton, Watts and Shaw found easy ways to score. Then came a massive minute in the game. With Express leading 60-50 David Watts picked up 3 fouls in 45 seconds and fouled out the game. As the time he was the game leading scorer with 18 points and suddenly the Express were in trouble. Shaw managed a lay-up but then Express failed to score for three minutes as Northampton made their run to lead 63-62. Mark Jones hit a massive three to restore the lead at 65-63 to finish the quarter- it was a lead they would never relinquish.  

Defence was the key to Mansfield fourth quarter triumph. They limited the league leaders to just 16 points and were disciplined and together throughout the final period. Mark Spatcher, the league leading scorer and last years league MVP was held scoreless as Collins, McGaffin and Jones refused to let him get a look at the basket. Coach Squire’s troops had regrouped after the loss of Watts senior and started to find ways to score from both the perimeter and the paint. Another Jones three pointer and deuces from Middleton and McGaffin opened up the first double-digit lead of the night at 74-85. Express played the final three minutes to perfection to pull off one of the most impressive results of the season. There are no unbeaten team now in the National League Division 2, Express are nicely positioned in third spot with a record of 5 win and 2 defeats. 

Scorers: Shaw 29, David Watts 18, Dan Watts 10 Ben Middleton 10, Mark Jones 9, Gaz Collins 7, Jamie McGaffin 6 

The next home game is this Saturday 10th December (tip off 8.00pm) when the visitors to the Mansfield Leisure Centre will be forth placed West Herts Warriors. This game and the one the following Saturday(17th) away at Derby Trailblazers will prove tough opposition for the Express.

Northampton Neptunes         78

Mansfield Express                  91 

The Northampton Neptunes were dealt their first league defeat of the season last Sunday but still remain top on points difference with the Leicester Warriors, who they face this Wednesday in a top of the table show down to see who will go two points clear at the top of the table.   

Northampton started steadily as Ross Carlton exploited the Express’s poor help defence to give the Neptunes a 6 – 2 lead after five minutes. Mansfield fought back with three three pointers to take the lead before Carlton and Ben Knight reduce the deficiet to just one point as the quarter finished with the Neptunes trailing 18 – 19.  

The second quarter started with Captain Mark Spatcher opening up the Express defence as he got to the basket for two quick scores, however the Mansfield side continued to hit from out side Joe Reynoso was having a tough time of it in the paint as he didn’t get many call other than the one’s that went against him for being physical. The half came to an end with Alex Birch hitting a three pointer on the buzzer to leave the scores at 48 – 42 in favour of the visitors.  

The Neptunes reduced the lead to just two points by the end of the 3rd as Simon Taylor, Mike Mcleod and Spatcher all began to cause the Express side problems, Spatcher and Reynoso both had to play much of the 3rd quarter with 4 fouls apiece which didn’t make things easy on the Neptunes. 

The final period the Neptunes gave up 26 points in the final quarter which effectively seal the home sides fait the turning point in the forth was two banked three pointers in three minute both of which came at crucial times, the first was when the Neptunes were within just one point and the second broke the game with just  two minutes remaining the Neptunes were down by six before the banked three pointer made it nine. A handful of cheap scores at the end saw the final scores at 91 -78. 

After the game Northampton Captain Mark Spatcher said “You’ve got to give credit to Mansfield they shot the ball really well tonight and just had all the luck with the ball going in the hoop from behind the arch, they banked three three pointers and at least another five or six went in and came out and then went in again, I think two hit the top off the backboard before dropping in so it was one of those night for them, having said that I believe you also make your own luck and we didn’t play good enough defence and they took their shots well and got the win”.

Top scorers for the Neptunes were Simon Taylor with 19 points, Ross Carlton 15 points, Joe Reynoso with 13 and Mark Spatcher chipped in with 12 points.  

The Neptunes now have two away games this week the first on Wednesday against Leicester and the second on Sunday when they travel to Plymouth.

26-27/11/05

Warriors collapse again for second defeat in a row to Colchester Utd  59 – 73 on the road 

UH West Herts Warriors entered this fixture buoyant having received news that both new signings (Marlon Munro and Paul Mundy-Castle) were available for the game at Colchester. Munro returned to Warriors from the previous 2 seasons, and Mundy-Castle was a new signing following some time away from the game. Coach Harrison mixed up the starting five for this game, inserting savvy veteran and local legend, Terry Rose at the centre spot for his first start of the season, along with Jon-Paul Cox at the 2 spot. 

The game started the way of a few Warriors games this season, ie not well. Warriors shots would not drop, and Colchester were converting these misses into layups at the other end, beating the West Herts defence downcourt. This was compounded by Rose arguing a call with the official and being whistled for a surprisingly mild technical foul. When gesturing to the bench for a sub, the ref mistook this for dissent, and gave him another technical foul, thus ending his game after just 3 mins, surely a National League record? The resultant free throws gave Colchester a 9 – 0 lead, before Jock Mackay could get Warriors on the score board with 4 mins gone to make it 10 – 2. The only positive for Warriors thus far was the sharp play of the returning Munro, who hit a three from the wing, and scored on a tough drive during the quarter, while the normally reliable Sahr Komba, Tayo Odulaja and Rafe Abrook were all unable to buy a basket. Mundy-Castle made his Warriors debut later in the quarter, getting to the line to make one of two free throws. The quarter ended 20 – 13 to Colchester. 

The second quarter would spell more bad news for Warriors as a sluggish start would see them trail 26 – 13 before a mini run courtesy of Luke Patterson, Abrook and Odulaja saw them back in the game at 20 – 26. Just when momentum was beginning to go their way, Komba dislocated a finger, and had to be taken to hospital. Oliwer Szyttenholm began to take over the game at this stage, and combined with Leroy Manhertz to score 19 out of the home team’s 21 points in the quarter. With Szyttenholm also hitting a leaning bail out three at the halftime buzzer to rib salt into a deepening Warriors wound, the scores read 41 – 24 to the home side. West Herts had left themselves a mountain to climb in the second half, but Mackay got them off to a good start by scoring on a tough drive inside. Then good ball movement found James Tye on the wing for the jump shot, followed by a pull up jumper by Patterson. A basket each inside for Mackay and Abrook saw the gap close to 47 – 34 before Wayne Smith hit a big three for Colchester. Free throws for both teams ended the quarter at 52 – 38 with lots for work for West Herts still to do. 

Munro continued his strong play in the fourth, finding gaps in the defence, before a 15 – 3 run for Warriors saw a tremendous comeback to put the game within 4pts at 57 – 61. Mackay was working hard inside to get open, and Patterson continued to shoot the ball well. Sadly some defensive lapses, and some fine play under pressure from Colchester saw them stretch the lead as they worked the ball around the pressing Warriors defence to find men under the basket. After Ariyo scored twice to put Colchester back up by ten, Warriors went into panic mode, forcing up unnecessary three pointers in an attempt to pull the game back. With less than a minute to play, all they could do on defense was foul to stop the clock, and Colchester ran out deserved winners 73 – 59. An abnormally quiet game for Odulaja was a surprise. 

Warriors second defeat in a row to a club in the bottom half of the table indicates much work is to be done in preparation for their home game vs a revived Leicester Warriors team this weekend.  

West Herts Scorers: Marlon Munro 14, Jock Mackay 13, Luke Patterson 10, Rafe Abrook 7, James Tye 6, Tayo Odulaja 5, Jon-Paul Cox 3, Paul Mundy-Castle 1, Sahr Komba, Terry Rose, Ritchie Burgess 

Colchester Scorers: Oliwer Szyttenholm 20, Alec Ward 13, Leroy Manhertz 12, Femi Ariyo 11, Wayne Smith 8, Julian Keeling 7, Chris Dixon 2, Dan Jones, Chris Wilson

Raiders overrun by the Express

WNC Mansfield Express 80

Plymouth Raiders II         64

Match report by Philip Mitchell

After the last two weeks disappointing games at Leicester and Aston, Express had to repair the damage and beat Plymouth Raiders

Coach Chris Squire was looking for determination and commitment from his players and most of all a win, but had Martyn Blankley absent from this game – so he knew it would be tough. But with Dave Watts and Ben Middleton getting double figures on rebounds in this game – the crowd were in for a good night.

The game started a little tentatively both teams scoring freely in what ended up being a scrappy quarter. Matt Shaw, Dave Watts, Jamie McGaffin with assistance from  Middleton and Michael Elland did the damage for Express, with replies from Spearman, Burchell and Wakenena for the raiders. Express managed to open a four-point lead at the end of the first quarter 21- 17

In the second quarter the Express stepped up a gear and the Raiders did not respond. The Watts brothers along with Shaw, McGaffin, Gary Collins and Martin Richards piled the pressure on shooting from all positions on court; only through Burchell, Wakenena and Boyle did the Raiders keep respectability. Express had managed to open the lead to 45-28.

In the third quarter Rodgers and Burchell for the Raiders did most of the damage trying to claw the deficit back, but yet again Dave ‘Tin Tin’ Watts replied with an uncharacteristic three pointer and then followed that up with a ‘slam dunk’ The score finished 64 – 49 to Express.

The fourth was a low scoring quarter from both sides – the pace of the game could not continue for the final ten minutes. Dave Watts with two early on then Mark Jones who had been quiet all night scored a three. Coyle and Wakenena were still trying to reduce the deficit for the Raiders; but with two and a half minutes left and the score at 73 –58 to Express the game was beyond redemption for the Raiders. Dave Watts yet again showed the home crowd what he is made of with another three pointer but Wakenena did the same at the other end. Last basket of the nigh went to Sean Dilks and the score finished 80-64 to Express.

Top scorers for Express: Dave Watts 30, Matt Shaw 10 and Jamie McGaffin 9

For Plymouth Raiders II: Burchell 17, Wakenena 12 and Rodgers 11

19-20/11/05

Warriors sent for early Team Bath, go down to Romans 56 – 60 at home. 

Having escaped with victory from a few subpar performances earlier in the season, UH West Herts Warriors knew a banana skin would come their way sooner or later, and it presented itself on their home court on Saturday. Team Bath Romans had strengthened their squad this season with 2 key acquisitions from the old EBL1 Oxford team, in 6’6 centre Arthur Robinson, and guard Keith Kelly. Meanwhile West Herts were coming to terms with the loss of their captain and starting shooting guard Craig Tye who re-injured his knee just prior to his comeback game. With Leon Bernard still out, Warriors were still able to field a strong squad for the match, and nothing short of victory was expected. 

The game tipped off fairly typically with the 6’8 Rafe Abrook hitting a 10 foot jumper off a well worked in-bounds play. Jamie Bragan responded with 2 inside off a missed shot for Bath, before Abrook again scored on a turnaround jump shot from the post to put Warriors back up 4-2. With only just over a minute and a half gone, West Herts fans would have to wait until the next quarter to see another Warriors field goal drop, as the team went on an offensive meltdown that spanned the next 8 and a half minutes of play. With layups and jump shots not dropping for Warriors, the situation was compounded by defensive lapses that gave Bath 13 free throw attempts in the quarter. Luke Patterson, Ritchie Burgess and Sahr Komba each getting whistled, while Bath built an 11-4 advantage. One made free throw from Odulaja was the only other Warriors point in the period as Vasillis Kostakos supported Robinsons strong play inside. 

In the second quarter Warriors began to claw the game back through Odulaja and Komba at first. Gerry Armstrong came on for Bath having only returned from the States earlier that day, and fouled Abrook following an attempted put back. Kostakos responded to the 2 made free throws with another drive inside, and Odulaja then followed with a made jump shot. Following a Kostakos three pointer that pushed Bath to a 24 – 14 advantage, Abrook scored another two. Soon afterwards a spectacular block by point guard Patterson on Ashley Ward, resulted in him saving the ball, dribbling up court and hitting the pull up J in one sequence to pull the scores back at 18 – 24. Odulaja scored the final 4pts of the quarter for Warriors who missed 4 free throws in the final minute of the half, but were still able to pull within 6 at 22 – 28. 

A positive start to the second half saw Patterson hit another jump shot, before Robinson was fouled on a jump shot of his own to complete a three point play. Abrook hit another turnaround jumper from the high post, but Robinson countered inside at the other end. A fast break off a steal saw Odulaja able to convert in the open court as the two teams traded baskets for a brief period. The remainder of the third quarter saw Warriors dig in deep on defence, as Komba then drove spectacularly along the baseline for his trademark hanging reverse lay up to pull West Herts within three. Following a three pointer from Ward, Odulaja and Abrook combined to run off 6 straight points to tie the game at 40 each. A made free throw for each side ended the quarter at 41 each with Warriors squarely back in the game. 

The start of the fourth saw Warriors build on this momentum with Abrook scoring 4 more quick points without response, and Odulaja hitting the team’s only made three pointer of the game to give the home side a 48 – 41 lead. Despite dogged resistance from Kelly, Komba and Odulaja were able to maintain this pressure to keep the score at 52 – 45 before things started to backfire for West Herts. With Burgess playing already limited minutes due to foul trouble, he picked up his fifth and final foul almost immediately after coming back on. Robinson kept the pressure on Warriors with strong play inside as the Bath team tried to feed him on every possession. Bath were then able to tie the score at 52 each on a Richard Milbourne free throw. Jock Mackay then made one of two foul shots himself to restore the lead, but more whistles on Warriors players thwarted their progress as Robinson converted 2 more from the charity stripe. James Tye was then fouled on a tough drive and made one of two to tie the score at 54 each with under 2 mins to play. Odulaja then scored with a minute to play to put Warriors up by two, before Kostakos was fouled, and made two free shots himself. With 26 seconds to play, Warriors played smothering defence but were unable to stop Bath getting the ball to Robinson in the corner. Abrook prevented him driving inside and instead forced a tough fall-away jumper from a tight angle with only a second left on the shotclock. To West Herts dismay, Robinson’s toughest shot of the night fell through to put the visitors up by two with 2.6 seconds to play. With Warriors unable to get a good shot off to retaliate they were forced to foul when the ball was put back in by Bath and Kelly iced the game with two more free throws. The game should serve as a wake up call to Warriors who need to pick up their play if they are to catch Northampton, who are now the only remaning unbeaten team in EBL2. 

West Herts Scorers: Tayo Odulaja 22, Rafe Abrook 18, Sahr Komba 7, Luke Patterson 7, James Tye 1, Jock Mackay 1, Ritchie Burgess, Jon-Paul Cox, Flo Pfeifer 

Bath Scorers: Arthur Robinson 18, Keith Kelly 10, Vasillis Kostakos 10, Ashley Ward 9, Jamie Bragan 6, D Foster 3, Gerry Armstrong 2, Richard Milbourne 2, Neil Dinan

Northampton Neptunes        91

Colchester United                 70 

The Northampton Neptunes are now the only undefeated team in the National Division 2 League after crushing Colchester at Lings Forum Leisure Centre on Sunday in front of a 400 plus strong crowd. 

Northampton started the game in style as Joe Reynoso threw down an emphatic dunk on his opposite number in the opening seconds of the game. This set the premise as the Neptunes up tempo style lead to back to back scores for Simon Taylor followed by three three pointers in as many minutes, two from Mike Mcleod and one from Ross Carlton as the Neptunes finished the 1st quarter 23 – 16 ahead.  

The second quarter started with captain Mark Spatcher opening up a double digit lead for the home side a he hit six consecutive points after Taylor found him twice on the counter attack. Alex Birch and Devon Adams then checked into the game to give Spatcher and Mcleod a breather, Both gave a good burst of pace to the game as the Neptunes continued to build on their lead. Ben Knight also began to cause the United defence problems as he got himself the basket back to back scores as the Neptunes closed out the half with a commanding lead of 47 – 32.   

The Neptunes came out in the second half with another gear as all five starters picked up scores in the 3rd period of play. Reynoso began to show his dominance in the paint as he scored four straight baskets, United had no option but to double and even triple team him in the next handful of plays which lead to the ball being passed back out to the Neptunes guards, Spatcher twice found Mcleod wide open for two three pointers Carlton also found Mcleod as