PREVIEWS - FEBRUARY 2008

An occasional (but weekly if I get the time) look at the forthcoming weekend's matches in the EBL.

Preview information from clubs, and from EB, will be included, where available.

w/e 3rd February 2008

NATIONAL TROPHY

Manchester Magic and Barkers (Tarring) Worthing Thunder  currently top EBL division 1 with identical records, and have one win each from the two meetings so far this year; Thunder winning the league match at home, and Magic the final in Derby. 

They meet on sunday in the National Trophy semi final against Manchester Magic, at the Thunderdome. Although Thunder have home court advantage, there is extra incentive for Manchester as they come down to Sussex, as a win would see them reach a final that is to be played on their home court at the Amaechi Basketball Centre (ABC). 

Says Smith again: “Jeff Jones has got his squad playing great team ball this year.  They have a deep bench, and on any given night any one of five or six players can appear in the top scorers.  They have a well balanced starting five, with Jamaal Hilliard controlling things from the point, Steven Gayle providing an explosive presence at the “2”, Duncan Ogilvie and Patrick Dwyer interchangeable at the forward slots and Steve Boonham having his best season so far inside.  Add Stefan Gill, Taner Adu and Andrew Mackay to that list and that is one hell of a lot of firepower to contend with. 

"However, we have some great players of our own, with Cleve Woodfork having come back really strong from the Christmas break and James Mooney continuing to light things up from outside, although Manchester did a good job of closing him down in the final.  Obviously we are hoping Demetrius (Scott) is somewhere near full fitness on Sunday as we missed his explosiveness in the final.  Our English guys have done well this year and stepped up when needed; I personally think this is a battle between the two deepest teams this year and I’m looking forward to it!” 

EBL DIVISION 1

Rockets V Bristol Academy Flyers, Rockets V Sheffield Arrows

Following the fifty five point demolition of West Anglia last Saturday the Reading Rockets face a tough weekend of action in EBL Division One and the National Trophy.

On Saturday the Rockets will travel to Bristol to take on a talented Flyers team who beat Sheffield convincingly away from home last weekend and lost in an overtime thriller against Manchester the previous week. Former Rocket Ryan Williams is the star man for newly promoted Bristol.

Sunday’s action at the Rivermead will see the Rockets take on Sheffield Arrows in the National Trophy semi final. Sheffield will be a tough test as Arrows are the only team this season to record a league win against Worthing Thunder. Arrows two Americans, Dustin Bevard and Brennon Martin are both capable scorers and Steve Hastings has recently joined from nearby Manchester.

Rockets skipper Adam Kelly is excited at the prospect of a weekend when his side could progress to a national final and improve their league position: "This is a huge weekend for us. We will need to be at our best to come out with two wins" he said.

Action begins at 4:30 pm on Sunday at the Rivermead Leisure Centre.

Derby Aim to Topple Thunder

Derby Trailblazers travel to Worthing Thunder this weekend, looking to recover from an embarrassing defeat at Taunton last Saturday. And Coach Clarence Wiggins is calling for much better defensive effort from his players, as they prepare to take on the reigning league champions.

“Defensively, we weren’t at our best against Taunton,” he says. “I’m not sure exactly why that was but perhaps after losing Tom (Sherlock) to injury and then adding Rob (Stockwell) and Ben (Middleton), I may need to have a conversation with each of the players on a one-to-one basis, just to run through exactly where their defensive responsibilities lie.”

“A lot of the time, its individuals that break down, just like it is in football and when you make a mistake, the whole team suffers but it’s that one player who stands out in those situations.”

“I told them at half time, that every time Taunton had the ball it was like we had three players on defence and the other two were just standing around watching. At this level, I’m afraid that’s just not acceptable.”

“We all agreed what we had to do to win the game and in the third quarter we competed much better. But unfortunately, we let them back in the game by either throwing the ball away or making poor decisions. And at the same time, they were making tremendous shots at the other end which is why they went on to win the basketball game.”

Captain Simon Spencer agrees that the Trailblazers need to improve their defensive game if they’re to stand a chance against Worthing:

“Our defensive intensity just wasn’t there,” he said. “It was just the same when we went down there last year. Now I know it’s a long trip, but we had a long trip the weekend before and we played much better defence against Leopards, so you really can’t use that as an excuse.”

“If distance really is the problem, we’ve got to work on it quickly because we’re at Worthing this weekend and they’ve not lost too many home games in the last few years, never mind this season!”

“Maybe we can try getting to the game a little earlier and get a better warm up, because that will help us be better prepared. But I’m not too concerned about Worthing, because we always seem to play better against the teams who are above us than we do against those towards the bottom.”

“Offensively, we probably scored just about enough points to win the game at Taunton, but we gave away far too many points because of our defence problems so I think that’s what we really need to work on ahead of the weekend.”

Barkers (Tarring) Worthing Thunder  face another busy weekend as they look to maintain interest in two competitions.   

Saturday sees newly promoted Derby Trailblazers visit the Thunderdome for the first time, having come up as champions of Division 2 last season.  The teams met in Derby on the opening weekend of league action, with Thunder coming out narrow winners.  Since then, Derby have made some additions to the squad, with the experienced Stedroy Baker and young talent Tom Sherlock coming in having had BBL experience.  In recent weeks, American forward Rob Stockwell has joined the team too. 

Director of Coaching Gary Smith expects a tough match: “The game in Derby was difficult for us, but we managed to get the victory to start our season off the right way.  Since then, Derby have made changes that have improved their squad so they will be heading down to the South Coast thinking about victory.  We are not playing our best basketball right about now, so we will have to dig deep and ensure that we remain focussed on this game.  We won’t be thinking about Sunday until the final buzzer goes.”   

Sunday’s game that Smith is referring to is the National Trophy semi final against Manchester Magic, again at the Thunderdome, where the home side will be looking for a measure of revenge for the National Cup final defeat handed out to them three weeks ago. 

London Leopards will look to bounce back from their loss at league leaders Worthing Thunder then they travel to basement side West Anglia Fury on Saturday.

The Norfolk side are bottom of the table having lost all nine games this season – including a 103-75 hammering at Wodson Park on the opening night of the league campaign.

Fury player-coach James Bamfield reacted angrily after a pair of home losses against Reading Rockets and fellow strugglers Coventry Crusaders last weekend, by sacking American pair Lamar Hull and Charles Whitfield.

Leopards have also beaten Fury at Wodson Park in the National Trophy (81-79) and the Braintree Sports Trophy (69-50), and will be looking for their 11^th straight victory in all competitions against them.

Coach Jon Burnell is looking for a repeat of the form which saw Leopards go close to upsetting Thunder last week:

“We played really well at Worthing, and I couldn’t have asked for any more from the players. That’s the best we’ve ever played down there, and we need to take that into the game against Fury on Saturday.”

The loss at Worthing saw Leopards drop to fourth in EBL Division One table, and the next home game at Wodson Park looks to be key. The Big Cats will face fifth placed Bristol Academy Flyers at the Ware venue on Saturday February 9, tip-off 7.30pm.

EBL DIVISION 2

Kent Crusaders v. Plymouth Marjon Cannons

Saturday 2 February at 7.30 pm

Venue: Body & Mind Leisure Center, Canterbury High School. 

The Body & Mind Kent Crusaders take on the Plymouth Marjon Cannons at home this coming weekend. The sides have met twice this tear, with the visitors the victims of an amazing Crusaders comeback back in October’s Patrons Cup, as a Steve Findley three pointer secured a last second win.

The Cannons got their revenge in January, as a shorthanded Crusaders team went to Plymouth to lose 76-54 on the back off a 27% shooting game.

“We’re looking much better now than we did in the beginning of January after we had just lost Robbie Parker. The players have found out that they are very good players in themselves, and what kind of effort it takes to be a good team in this league,” says Crusaders head coach Mads Olesen of the game.

Crusaders’ Sam Betts added “It’s a pivotal game when you look at the table. Cannons have one more win than us, and we’ll be looking to overtake them. It’s a key game if we want to be serious about reaching the playoffs”.

Crusaders Captain Pete Ayling also thinks the Crusaders have a good chance of winning: “The team has turned the corner. We’re playing with real passion and belief. We’re determined to put on a show for our loyal home crowd”.

The game will feature the Crusaders lights and smoke introductions show, and the Mavericks cheerleaders.

Robbie Parker is still out with an injury, and young big man Dan Garrad is just returning from injury.