26/02/06

The East Kent Crusaders lost to Team Northumbria 84-64 in the final of the National Shield.

The game was unusual from the Crusaders point of view, with the East Kent team looking decidedly out of sorts committing 28 turnovers and wasteful in offence hitting only 19% of their three point efforts and 45% from the free throw line. On the day Crusaders were only able to show glimpses of the form that has propelled them to the top of their division this season.

Pete Ayling noticed that there was something not quite right about the Crusaders on the day. “It was a weird game, they seemed to hit everything they shot while we struggled to hit anything.”

The Crusaders, whose defensive intensity has typified their season thus far, were ‘out-defended’ on the night by a highly organised Team Northumbria defence who never let Crusaders do the damage that they are capable of doing.

The Crusaders started on the front foot taking an early 6-3 lead in the opening exchanges. However they could not sustain their early advantage for long and soon found themselves on the wrong end of a 15-2 run from Team Northumbria who capitalised on East Kent’s defensive lapses.

Team Northumbria were 18-8 ahead when a break away dunk Walter Moyse seemingly brought Crusaders to their senses. The 6’10 Canadian was one of the few Crusaders players who played to their full potential on the day scoring 25 points on 11-14 shooting and commanding the boards with nine rebounds.

The Crusaders came back at Northumbria with an 11-2 run meaning that at the end of the first quarter their was only one point in it with the Northern team ahead 20-19

East Kent continued their momentum into the second quarter retaking the lead and going ahead to a 27-22 lead. Once again however they could not keep up the pressure and began to struggle offensively with poor shot selection and a pandemic of turnovers. Unfortunately for the Crusaders team, Northumbria suffered from no such problems and while the Kent team managed just one basket in the last seven minutes of the half their opponents hit 16. The half ended with Northumbria once more in the lead 38-29.

The lead was stretched to 45-31 before Crusaders found a way to hit back with back to back three pointers. These had little affect however as Northumbria once again seized the initiative hitting a desperation running three pointer as the shot clock buzzer sounded before going on a 19-6 run which effectively put Crusaders out of the game, as the third quarter ended 68-45.

In the 4^th quarter, the Crusaders changed tactics in a desperate attempt to close the gap between the two teams. Although they got to within 16 points, the difference was too much of a mountain to climb and Team Northumbria cruised home to a twenty point victory, 84 to 64.

After the game Crusaders head coach Jesse Sazant said: “Obviously we’re pretty disappointed with the result, we didn’t perform to the standard we needed to.” He added “We need to learn the lessons from tonight and improve our performance for the play-offs.”

05/02/06

The East Kent Crusaders booked themselves a place at the EBL Shield Final, the first final in the clubs history, with a 79-69 victory away to Taunton Tigers on Sunday.

East Kent’s coach Jesse Sazant said the win was: “A tremendous achievement,” saying he was proud of the way his team bounced back from their defeat at the hands of Eastside only a day earlier.

Crusaders will face Team Northumbria in the final which is to be held in Manchester on the 26^th of February.

The game was an extremely physical affair watched by around four hundred fans, including a small but vocal band of Crusaders supporters who made the long journey to Somerset to support their team.

The game started evenly as both teams sought to seize the initiative. The teams traded baskets freely throughout a high scoring opening quarter which saw Tigers take an early 21-17 lead.

In the second quarter the Crusaders snatched the lead with a 10-1 run which included two three point efforts from Jay Gifford. Gifford, returning to form after a long period out of the team due to injury, was left open with the Tigers zone defence focused on Crusader’s star centre Walter Moyse.

Taunton regained their form and closed the gap to 2 points, with East Kent leading 41-39 at the half.

The third quarter saw Tigers win a number of free throw opportunities early in the quarter, eight in total, but crucially they were unable to capitalise from this opportunity and hit only three of them. Taunton had little luck from the free throw line all evening managing to hit only 25 of 45 shots compared to Crusaders who hit 18 from 24. Despite the number of fouls awarded to their opponents, Crusaders assistant coach Mads Olesen said the quality of refereeing in the game was excellent.

In the opening minutes of the second half the Crusaders seemed weak on offence managing to score just 3 points in the opening four minutes. Luckily for the East Kent their defence was in fine form virtually shutting Tigers attack. Crusaders forward Lee Butters was as usual in the thick of the action and was involved in a small fracas involving one of Tigers’ point guards. Butters said; “They lost their cool and we kept ours.” He added “I was very proud to be a part of the team today.”

Once the Crusaders offence got going in the third quarter it was with deadly intent. Time and time again Crusaders were able to find Walter Moyse who was able to use his size advantage to score and draw the fouls at the same time, further stretching the gulf between the sides.

Moyse was once again Crusaders top scorer with 23 points after the game he said he was proud of how his team played especially with Taunton throwing everything at Crusaders in defence. “They were very physical in defence doing things like using their hands but we really turned up in the second quarter,” said Moyse.

Things went from bad to worse for the West Country team when star player Joe Andrews was ejected from the game after his fifth foul. Andrews committed his fourth foul late in the third quarter before immediately picking up his fifth foul with a technical foul.

The third quarter ended with Crusaders 62-50 ahead and looking good for the victory.

Taunton, urged on by their home support, staged something of a comeback early in the fourth but it was to prove too little too late. Crusaders were able to keep ahead of Taunton thanks to scores from Pete Ayling and a three pointer by captain Paul Jessop, who hit 18 points throughout the match. Eventually Crusaders ran out comfortable winners. Jessop said after the match: “This is only half the job done, we want to win it.”

Taunton Tigers head coach Ronnie Heath praised Crusaders saying: “East Kent are very strong and should be in Division 2 or even Division 1.”

Walter Moyse was Crusaders top scorer with 23 followed by Paul Jessop with 18, Robbie Parker with 11 and with Jay Gifford and Lee Butters both on 6.

07/01/06

The East Kent Crusaders advanced to the semi finals of the National Shield with a comfortable home victory beating Reading Rockets II 92 to 57, giving the Crusaders their ninth successive victory.

The Crusaders busy defence smothered Reading’s offensive efforts, allowing Reading to hit only 24% of their shots. East Kent in comparison, were far more effective in offence with a total of six of their players reaching double figures. The Crusaders were particularly impressive in transition with speedy breaks setting up numerous crowd pleasing dunks and lay-up’s.

The East Kent side blew the game open early with superb first quarter performance sparked by Lee Butters, who hit five points and showed great fire and intensity in defence. The Crusaders raced away to an initial 14-2 lead before they were pegged back to 16-9 by a brief Reading fight back. Crusaders quickly regained the initiative and took the game to Rockets with another 15-2 run with Walter Moyse scoring 8 points.

The big Canadian was again on fine form with 23 points, including a club record nine from the free throw line, as well as catching 15 rebounds throughout the game.

The first quarter ended with East Kent in a commanding position ahead by 31-14 and it was perhaps this which caused a drop in intensity from Crusaders in the second quarter.

The teams traded baskets for the first nine minutes of the quarter as Reading looked for a way back into the game. Crusaders reorganised after a timeout and came back to the court in a much more aggressive mood scoring the final six points of the half to pull away to a half time 53-30 lead.

The third quarter saw a re-energised Crusaders resume their demolition job on a frail looking Rockets defence, with Robbie Parker, Steve Findley and Moyse all figuring in a 10-2 run which should have put the Rockets out of the game. But a string of defensive lapses throughout the remainder of the quarter, combined with an extended period of offensive impotence when only Pete Adkins could seem to manage to score. Adkins, a member of the Great Britain Police Basketball scored twelve and grabbed six rebounds, throughout the game. After the game Pete said he was pleased with how his team performed on the night. “We kept it simple and played some good basketball, we managed to get one of their better players into foul trouble early on which took a lot of the pressure off us.”

With the game appearing safe the Crusaders rested a number of their starters for the final quarter. This seemed to make little difference to the quality of Crusaders play as Adkins and Findley continued their impressive display. Findley had a strong game scoring 14 points and making a number of steals and rebounds.

The pair helped East Kent pull ever further away from Reading and put the game beyond doubt well before the final buzzer.

East Kent’s coach Jesse Sazant was understandably pleased with the victory; “It’s a great achievement to qualify for the National Shield semi-finals for the first time. It was really good to see guys like Pete (Adkins) and Steve (Findley) step up today and put together a really solid defensive performance.”

The Crusaders will now face one of Manchester Magic II, Team Northumbria or the Taunton Tigers in the semi-finals on the 5 February. The draw will take place this week.

East Kent Crusaders booked their place in the quarterfinals of EBL’s National Shield with a resounding 98-64 victory over league rivals London Towers II.

After the game an ecstatic Jesse Sazant, Crusaders head coach said. “This was a great performance and a great result tonight! Our defensive intensity and rotations made the difference at one end while our unselfishness on offence did the job at the other."

The large crowd gathered at Canterbury’s Body and Mind, the Crusaders’ largest of the year, was treated to a fantastic display of basketball as East Kent dominated the Towers from start to finish.

The Towers were the only team to have defeated East Kent in the league this season and revenge was served by a ruthless Crusaders team who were fired up right from the tip off.

“Everyone was really fired up,” said Crusaders Captain Paul Jessop. “A few of their players got under our skin last time, and there was no need to motivate anyone this time.”

Crusaders were able to out gun their opponents in offence thanks to their superior team play. The Towers’ offence was centred around their two star players Antonio and Stepaunaucius, who were successfully shut out by Crusaders defensive hustle. The pair shot a meagre 8 from 34 during the whole game. In contrast Crusaders had an extremely balanced attack with six different players reaching double figures.

It was obvious that the game was as important for Towers as it was for Crusaders, with two professional basketball players from the Towers BBL side brought into the team for this game.

After the Towers scored the initial basket, the Crusaders took the lead thanks to a Jeff Wadey three pointer. London would not draw level or take the lead again. The Crusaders took the game to the Towers throughout the rest of the quarter with a Robbie Parker scoring seven points as Crusaders stole a 26-9 lead over their opponents.

The Crusaders defence caused the Towers even more headaches in the second quarter restricting their offence to only two points for the first five minutes of the quarter, while East Kent racked up eleven at the other end. Walter Moyse and Paul Jessop combined well to score a series of inside points and three pointers to stretch the Crusaders lead to 32 points late in the half. Jessop’s three point shooting was a major bonus for Crusaders throughout the game with the captain scoring 23 points with 15 coming from three point efforts. The Towers were only able to marginally close the gap to 54-25 at the half.

The Towers came out in the second half showing extra intensity seemingly determined to make a game of it. The two sides traded baskets for the opening few minutes of the quarter before the Towers scored nine unanswered point to close the gap to 73-51. The Towers’ comeback was short lived when Crusaders re-established their stranglehold on the game with back to back baskets by Lee Butters.

The Crusaders started the fourth quarter perfectly scoring eleven unanswered points, making the rest of the game academic. The Crusaders rested their big guns allowing players like Ryan Richards the chance to shine. Richards scored the final two points of the game as part of a 10 point effort (on 5 of 6 shooting).

Butters (15 points and 12 rebounds) and Walter Moyse (13 points and 15 rebounds) were a force all night as they led East Kent to a huge 54-31 rebounding advantage.

The Crusaders advance to the quarter finals of the National Shield which sees them hosting the Reading Rockets II. The Crusaders will be confident of their chances against the Rockets II as they defeated them convincingly 100-60 last time the two sides met.

Bognor eased into the quarter finals of the men’s national shield with a scrappy win over a below strength London team. With the visitors only travelling with 7 players it was always going to be a tough night for them, but when they only had licences for five, Bognor sensed they should progress through to the next round.

Bognor began brightly with Dan Shotton showing the progression he has made from last year to back down his man and score the first six of the Pirates points. This opened up the game for the guards and Chris Bunten in particular. With a penetrating lay up followed by a wide open three after good ball movement by the Pirates, Bognor were beginning to open up an early lead. After another lay up from Bunten and two more baskets for Shotton, Bognor were leading 17 – 7 and the early thoughts of a comfortable victory were at the front of the Pirates supporters. London Capitals had other ideas and suddenly picked up their game. With Bognor now using their bench, their offence wasn’t flowing as freely allowing London to work their way back into the game. A 10 – 0 run for London tied the game 17 – 17 at the end of the quarter.

Bognor moved the ball round well to find Kevin Wilson wide open for jump shot at the beginning of the second quarter. A three from London saw them take the lead for the first time since the first minute of the game, but with Oli Roche making a strong move to the basket, scoring and getting fouled, Bognor regained the lead. Another basket from London gave them a lead at 21 – 22 before Bognor once again settled down into their offence. Paul Sparrowhawk lead the way nailing a wide open jump shot before Shotton worked his way inside again for the next five points. When Sparrowhawk made another three to give a 31 – 22 lead with only two minutes remaining in the half, Bognor again thought they were cruising. As in the first quarter, Bognor’s concentration slipped, allowing London to score the next seven points to finish the half 31 – 29.

Bognor increased the pressure with Moncrieff, Wilson, Shotton and Gore all finding the basket and the Pirates defence closing down London to build a 14 point lead midway through the third quarter. A small run from London saw them close the gap to seven points before Kevin Wilson scored another open jump shot in the final minute to end the quarter 51 – 42 to Bognor.

London came out strong in the fourth, scoring the first three field goals to narrow the lead to just four. Chris Bunten made another big three to give Bognor some breathing space. London sensed they were still in with a good chance of winning the game and put together one last push, out scoring the Pirates 7 – 2 in a four minute burst. After losing a few close games this season, the Pirates were keen to learn from previous mistakes. Chris Bunten slowed the team down and made Bognor run their offence. Some good passing and movement created a wide open three for Paul Sparrowhawk who calmly knocked it down. The hard work was almost undone with Tebo from London making a three point play, Shotton only making one of two free throws and London scoring another two to make it a one point game with just two minutes to play.

Bognor used their height advantage to go inside, this time to Gore who missed his first attempt but grabbed the rebound and scored. One minute to go. Capitals ran their offence and made a strong move to the basket only to find Gore waiting for them to collect his ninth block of the game. A silly foul by Bognor sent Tebo to the line only to for him to miss both shots, and with London fouling Lee Barnes and sending him to the line for two free throws with less than 15 seconds to go, Barnes had to make just one to effectively win the game. Barnes missed the first, but knocked down the second for a four point lead. London threw up a quick three, but with Gore grabbing the rebound and making the one his free throws after being fouled, Bognor progressed through to the quarter finals of the national shield.

Points: Shotton 30, Bunten 10, Sparrowhawk 8, Gore 6, Wilson 6, Roche 2, Moncrieffe 2, Barnes 1

Bognor’s’ next home game is on Saturday 10^th December v Taunton Tigers at the earlier time of 4pm at The Arena. For more details visit www.bognorpirates.co.uk

Black Country University of Wolverhampton Wolves (Sponsored by Maudesport) 103

Aston Athletics ll 56

The Black Country University of Wolverhampton’s first National Shield knockout game saw visit local rivals Aston Athletics. Due to forward Richard Onions wedding the Wolves only travelled with six players; captain Dennis Preware, Adrian McLean and Martin Paxton were guests at the wedding. Despite this the Wolves prevailed running out comfortable winners 103 – 56 setting up a mouth watering clash with another University team, Worcester Wolves II.

Sound and very aggressive defence allowed the Black Country to exhibit their fine fast break basketball and numerous easy baskets were to be had. Michael Mefo and Eric Potts filled lanes quickly and scored plenty of uncontested lay-ups. Karl Welborn continued to shoot the ball extremely well off both catch and dribble.

The second half saw Aston play a zone defence and this caused the Wolves a few problems. An inability to get the ball inside the key regularly to either Ian Davidson or Eric Potts, both of whom Aston could not contain, was frustrating. The Wolves also shot the ball too early on occasions given they could get easy shots with a little more patience. The fact that five out of six players scored double figures indicates the scoring potential of the team; selecting the right shot is the coach concern. Nonetheless, the Black Country has now won their last six games and the return of those players missing from action this weekend augers well for future fixtures.

Scorers: Robin Hall – 25 Karl Welborn – 23 Ian Davidson - 22

Solent Stars 45-71 East Kent Crusaders

At half time Solent were leading 32-26 and looking good for the lead.

The game started very slowly with East Kent looking good. They were virtually the same side as last season when they finished in third place in the 3^rd Division East. Solent beat them 3 times during the course of that season.

They have recruited the 6’10” Canadian Walter Moyse and were much bigger all round than Solent this time around.

But Solent were gritty in defence as they pulled back a 8 and 0 lead with a 2 big 3 pointers and 2 free shots from Alex Byrne and then 3 foul shot points from Larry Rowe, 1 from Yaz Al-Hakim. This left them 9-14 down at the end of the first quarter, a very low score.

Then a switch of defence to a 1-2-2 zone confused the Kent outfit and Solent got some steals which they converted into points with Neil Kelly and Mike Peel taking the opportunity to get some court time as Solent’s regular scorers were very quiet on the night. Solent led by 32-26 at the break.

Solent were given the benefit of the refereeing calls during this period but this evened itself out in the second half. The defensive effort was all out effort with the five of Byrne, Kelly, Peel, Chris Watson and Jon Rumsey working as a unit.

The second half was very different with Solent only scoring 13 points in the period, 6 in the third and 7 in the third. This was the lowest score in this teams’ short history.

East Kent stepped their defence and with Moyse finding his confidence with every minute as he and Butters dominated the boards at each end, out rebounding Solent by 67-42.These 2 pulling down 30 rebounds between them.

Solent had the shots but failed to hit the target with a percentage of less than 20% from the field as they were rushed by the excellent Kent defence.

Solent Team and Statistics:

Rossi,

Teesdale 2 points, 1 steal.

Peel 11pts, 2 rbs, 2 assists,

Kelly 6 pts, 3 rbs,

Titcombe 2, 4 rbs,

Chubb,

Al-Hakim 1 pts, 2 rbs, 1 assist,

Rowe 6 pts, 2 rbs,

Duke

Byrne 11pts, 3 rbs, 1 assist 1 steal,

Watson 2 pts, 4 rebounds,

Rumsey 6pts, 9 rbs, 1 steal

East Kent Crusaders defeated Solent Stars II 45 – 71 in the first round of the National Shield, gaining a measure of revenge over the team that defeated them three times last year.

Crusaders showed the team work and defensive meanness which has come to typify their season thus far. Crusaders completely dominated the game in the second half restricting their opponents to only thirteen points. In the process Crusaders bested their record for least points allowed in a match, previously 54.

This outcome however seemed far from likely initially as the Crusaders had by their admission an “awful start” falling behind their opponents and managing to score only 26 points in the whole first half.

East Kent started the game brightly enough taking the lead thanks to scores from Robbie Parker and Walter Moyse. They were 14-3 up at one point before defensive errors and fouls enabled Solent to hit six straight foul shots and claw back the Crusaders lead to only 14-9 by the end of the quarter.

Crusaders never seemed to get going in the second quarter. Solent switched to a zone defence that starved Crusaders of points. In contrast Crusader’s offence seemed barely functional, lacking any of its usual intensity. The teams were tied with a minute left in the half when Solent took advantage of three Crusaders turnovers to take the lead, with the half ending 32-26 in Solent’s favour.

Despite being behind in the match, when Crusaders returned to the court for the third quarter they were barely recognisable from the team that trudged off at half time. Team captain Paul Jessop explained his teams turn around.

“When we arrived at Solent and saw our opponents we thought we would walk over them and we played like we expected it to be easy, we didn’t give them enough respect. We gave ourselves a kick up the backside and came out much more aggressively in the third.”

This “kick up the backside” seemed to work miracles for Crusaders as they proceeded to dominate the game from the third quarter onwards.

In the third quarter Crusaders held Solent to only 6 points, with a combination of excellent rebounding and aggressive defence forcing Solent to live off scraps. Walter Moyse again showed fine form scoring 19 points, blocking five shots and grabbing 15 rebounds over the course of the game.

Crusaders showed excellent teamwork in the quarter as a total of seven different players got on the score sheet. Crusaders levelled the match halfway through the third at 36 all before a Parker and Moyse inspired 12-3 run gave Crusaders the lead 48-38 by the end of the quarter.

Crusaders domination in defence continued on into the fourth quarter, where they held Solent to only seven points. Meanwhile at the other end Robbie Parker continued to pour on the points setting up a 16-3 Crusaders run which effectively ended the game as an even competition.

Crusader’s defence was the primary reason for their comprehensive destruction of Solent in the second half. Crusaders forced Solent to take difficult shots meaning they made only 16% of their shots in the half. Likewise Crusaders rebounding was also on top form, grabbing 67 rebounds during the game compared to only 42 rebounds taken by Solent.

Joining Moyse in the scoring were Robbie Parker with 18 and Lee Butters with 10 (and 14 rebounds).

Head coach Jesse Sazant praised his team’s ability to come back so strongly in the game. “This is another good character win. We played some great defence in the second half and really took the game to them."

Crusaders now progress on to the 2nd round of the National Shield where they host London Towers II on 3 December at Body and Mind, Canterbury High School.