Saturday 5th November
TCAT SHROPSHIRE WARRIORS V HUDDERSFIELD HEAT
EBL Division 3 North

It was a sadly depleted Warriors team that took on Huddersfield Heat at Sport TCAT tonight. Due to injuries and lack of availability Coach Nico Kolokythas had just 8 fit players at his disposal for what he knew was going to be a very tough encounter against a Huddersfield Heat who had no less than 5 players over 6 ft 5 inches and also had the massive experience and scoring power of former BBL star Jason Swaine to rely on for this Division 3 North National League clash.

The first quarter was evenly contested. Simon Hoare lead our offence and looked good on his way to 10 of our 21 points. Sam Shephard and Josh Crutchley hit 4 apiece and Aaron and Craig added 2 and 1 respectively. However, with Jason Swaine knocking down 14 and big men Irving and Bigley picking up 5 and 4 respectively we ended the quarter 2 down.

The second period saw the Warriors’ offence misfiring. They were only able to pick up 10 points in the quarter, these being scored by Simon (5), Josh (4), Sam (2) and Ben Parry (2). Whilst they struggled to score themselves the Warriors continued to struggle to contain Swaine. After ending the first period with one big 3 he opened the second with another one. He then followed this with four consecutive swishes from the line and then added another trey to take his total for the half to a smooth 24. With Gray chipping in 3 baskets the Heat stretched away to an 11 point advantage at the buzzer.

Warriors 34 Heat 45 ad its effect. Sam and Josh led the way on offence with 8 each and with Simon picking up another 4 and Ben Parry 2 the Warriors racked up 22 points. However, Swaine (9) and Bigley (7) ensured that the Heat lead was not just maintained but in fact extended by 4.

By now it was clear that the home team were embarrassed and frustrated by their collective performances. However, rather than digging in deep as they should have they allowed themselves to be completely overrun in the last ten minutes. Apart from only being able to muster 10 points themselves, they could not stop the Heat from stretching away to reach the three figure mark. Surprisingly enough it was not Swaine who rubbed the salt into the wounds. He only added 5 points – by far his least productive quarter – to finish with just 40 points. However, his team mates shared out another 24 to rub salt onto our already open wounds.

Final Score Warriors 66 Heat 100

Our scorers on the night were Simon Hoar (23), Josh Crutchley (18), Sam Shephard (14), Ben Parry (6), Aaron With (2), Ben Cameron 2 and Craig Strichland (1).

Match Report: Tom Sunley

Photo: Carsten Dieterich