Saturday 19th November
TCAT SHROPSHIRE WARRIORS v SEFTON STARS
EBL Division 3 North

The Warriors bounced back emphatically from the embarrassment of last Sunday’s performance against Derby Trailblazers to record their third win of the league season tonight at Sport TCAT.

The first quarter opened with a quick basket from one of the Stars big men but Ben Parry replied with a long two following some excellent ball movement to tie it up. Josh Crutchley then had two super steals at the top of our defence to score with two uncontested lay ups, but these four points were balanced by four from the Stars dangerous guard Mbaye and by their equally dangerous big man Mattar. For the remainder of the period it was a case of Shropshire’s well constructed half court offences producing a basket apiece for Aaron Withe and Sam Shephard and two more for Ben Parry whilst the Stars relied largely on points from the line – 7 in all - through till the tenth minute, One of the two baskets from Ben was of a terrific individual drive finished by a classy finger roll. Smith responded with a 2 off a quality back door high low, but the quarter ended with a lovely finish of a patient set-up in the last few seconds leading to Sam Shephard scoring with a cool mid range jumper at the buzzer to give us back a one point lead at 17 – 16.

Aaron opened our second quarter scoring by knocking down two frees. Walsh replied with a nice individual drive and after Siggy missed two from the line Aaron rolled his ankle very badly following an apparently innocuous contact under our board. Siggy then finally deservedly got on the sheet following a lovely base line move. He then followed this with a lovely break and feed Arnie for a nice lay up finish. Luke then finished off another lovely piece of ball rotation with a nice short range jumper to take our score to 26.

Big man Richard Parker, who had killed us in our first encounter, then hit two baskets in response, to make it 26 – 24, but Ben Parry then coolly knocked down two frees before Arnie took his score to 5 following a big three at the end of another great piece of ball movement to take us to 31. Beely then knocked down two frees for the Stars to make it 31 to 26, but this would be the last Stars basket for a very long time with our defence taking complete control and our offence becoming more and more fluent.

Ben Parry hit a long two of a pass from Arnie to take us to 33 and this was quickly followed by a trailing Siggy tipping in a miss by Josh at the end of a great drive following another of his trademark steals. Ben then knocked down another big 3 and the Stars were on the rocks at 38 - 26. Josh immediately hit a big 2 from the corner from yet more excellent ball rotation, and when Luke came back in replacing Siggy, he quickly found the bucket with a mid range two to take us to 42. Mattah finally broke the Stars drought with a long range jumper but Josh finished the half in style for us with another two from the corner after yet another lovely ball rotation. Stars Guard’ Mbaye’s reaction said it all he threw the ball into the rafters in disgust.

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Ben Parry in action....

 

Half Time Score: 44 - 30

The third quarter started as the second had ended with more quality ball movement being finished with another 2 from the corner from Josh. This was followed by more great defensive work leading to a steal by Siggy and a drive down court to feed Craig for a layed in two and and 1, to take us to 49 – 30. Beeley hit a long three to get the Stars first points of the half but this was followed with a scintillating basket from Sam at the end of great perimeter ball movement into a high low pass from Siggy. Further great team defence ended with Sam gaining possession and throwing a long outlet to Siggy, who finished in style with Josh trailing him up court and not a Stars player within yards. Josh then stole another one and finished off with a simple lay up and the gap between the teams was a game high 21 - 54 to 33. Our run in the last 10 minutes had now been 24 to 5 and the Stars looked totally demoralised

Following Josh’s example, Craig knocked down another two from the corner. The rest of the period saw the Stars gradually gain back some composure and claw their way back into the game slightly. Mattar started their fightback by hitting an inside 2 and Mbaye followed this with a 3. Arnie then went to the line after being fouled on his way to the basket after a mesmerising individual drive but could make just 1 of 2 from the line. Parker made two frees for the Stars, but Ben countered these with two of his own from the stripe. Arnie then finished off another great 24 second offence with a big big 3 to take us to 63 44, and this was followed with another finished beautifully by Sam in the paint to take the lead back to 20. Sadly complacency allowed Smith to finish the half for the Stars on a high with a big three.

However, with the score 65 to 47 our position still looked fire-proof as the final 10 got under way. There was no indication of what was to come during the first few minutes. Though Josh for once had missed a breakaway lay up, he fed Siggy on the break and he finished beautifully to take us back into a 20 point lead at 69 – 49 after 2 minutes. Parker hit two frees for the Stars but Siggy then fed Josh on the break for another contested lay up. Craig then hit a long two to take us to 73 55.

Basketball is a game of runs. Ours had just come to an end and a Stars’ revival run was about to start. Our offence and defence just fell apart. We suddenly could not stop the Stars from scoring and we couldn’t make a basket. The Stars’ run started with a big three from Michael Griffiths and then Mbaye, who had done absolutely nothing since the 18th minute of the game, other than head-butting Arnie and throwing the ball into the rafters at the half, took over the game. He scored 10 unanswered points to bring the Stars back to within 5.

Coach K tried to get a time out to stop the rot, but before he could get it Smith hit a long 2 to cut the deficit to just 3 with 1 and a half still to play. All the home fans had their hearts in their mouths feeling it almost inevitable that a real disaster was about to happen. Thankfully the time out was a good one. We got some composure back, played a steady offence and Sam was fouled by Mattah (his fourth) and went to the line for a vital 2. He missed the front end of the two but kept his cool under real pressure to make the second.

Having made a stop, we then played out a 20 second offence before Ben was eventually fouled by a frustrated Mattah, who grudgingly left the court. Ben hit nothing but net and the gap was now back at 6. Embaye brought the Stars back to within four with a two after a clear travel, and immediately fouled captain Craig Strickland on the inbound pass to stop the clock. Craig looked ice-cold as he walked slowly down court to take two from the line. Like Ben before him he hit nothing but net. The clock ran out and we had the two points that we so desperately needed.

Final Score: Warriors 78 Stars 72

Scorers: Ben Parry (19), Josh Crutchley (16), Sam Shephard 9, Arnas Liutkus (9), Simon Hoar (8), Craig Strickland (7), Aaron Withe (4), Luke Grant (4).

MVP: Ben Parry

It was very difficult for me to judge who was the MVP, but Ben Parry was outstanding at both ends and his 19 points just tipped the scales in his favour.

So many players were terrific on defence and composed on offence. Josh was inspirational at both ends of the court and his 16 points were very significant. Arnas undoubtedly had his best game of the season showing control, being perceptive, and importantly being a threat from the perimeter and when driving and kicking. Captain Craig was back to his best and had a great influence over the whole team. Though he didn’t pick up his usual haul of points Siggy was outstanding on defence. For me this was his best game of the season. Sam and Luke were also very solid on defence and a threat on offence.

Summary

This was a great all round team performance from our guys. It was great to see the work that Coach Kolokythas and more recently Coach Fisher have been putting in with the players our guys reaping rewards. Some of the basketball in the second and third periods was really high quality.

Many of our fans will probably just remember our offensive ball movement and the way in which we finished our breaks and our 24 second offences from inside and particularly from the perimeter. But the basis of our win came from the much improved intensity and quality of our individual and team defence.

The fans and the players will also undoubtedly remember that crazy few minutes in the final period when it looked like we might have blown it. But our guys should be proud of the way they dug themselves out of the hole with courage and the composure in the last two minutes and ultimately finished the job off.

It was great to see the fans celebrate a win they have been waiting for a long time now. It was also good to see the players able to enjoy the win but not too much!! They know that they have a tough weekend ahead of them with the away game versus Nottingham Hoods on Saturday night and a home game versus the full timers from second in the table Loughborough Students Riders to follow on Sunday at TCAT.

 

Match Report: Tom Sunley

Photos: Carsten Dieterich