Press Release 14

P R E S S R E L E A S E

“Moulton” go down in the “Lions” den

Junior Men’s Midland Premier League

Milton Keynes “Lions”77 -65Northants “Moulton

The Northants “Moulton” junior men made a disappointing start to 2009 slipping to a 12 points defeat against local rivals Milton Keynes “Lions”. The key factor came midway through the second period when “Moulton” were outscored 19-4. All this after they had taken a 16-11 lead in a defence dominated first quarter.

The “Moulton” coaching staff was well aware of the threat posed by the “Lions” guard Washington and elected to open with a zone defence. This worked well in the first quarter but a switch to the combination defence which had proved so successful in the Cup match between the two teams proved to be less effective. Although Washington was contained other “Lions” players were able to find scoring opportunities.

Trailing 34-28 at half time “Moulton” switched to a man-to-man defence but their main problem came from committing far too many errors. These came in the form of missed shots and unforced turn-overs. “Moulton’s” problems were compounded by the loss of the influential Jake Wyatt with five fouls. The home side took the third quarter 25-28 leaving “Moulton” with the proverbial mountain to climb.

Two “Moulton” players who were certainly ‘up for the fight’ were centre Dan Shaw and guard Jonny Yates. Time and again Shaw made important rebounds launching Yates on surging counterattacks. Such was the effectiveness of Yates’ efforts he scored 12 points in the final quarter which “Moulton” shaded 19-18 but it was too little too late as “Lions” took a well deserved win.

In the 12 points set back Yates scored a massive 31 points while Shaw had 11 rebounds to go with his 14 points. No other “Mouton” player was able to score in double figures and the influence of Wyatt before he fouled out was shown by his haul of 13 rebounds.

Barren third period costs Cadets dear

Cadet Men’s Premier Division North

Northants “Thunder”56 – 74Cheshire “Jets”

Well in contact at 23-26 at half time the Northants “Thunder” cadet men looked to be in with a real possibility of beating a talented Cheshire “Jets” team. Experienced “Jets” coach Mike Burton then switched his team to a zone defence and the game was turned on its head. “Thunder” found it difficult to score against the Cheshire defence and found themselves outscored 27-5 and to all intents and purposes it was ‘game over’.

“Thunder” battled back in the fourth period which they lost by only two points but they never looked likely to get back into striking distance.

Jess Kelly, Daniel Obasa and Garnet Walters all scored in double figures but no “Thunder” player was able to really make a significant contribution to clinch the game for their team

First ever win for young “Ballers”

Under 13 Midlands Conference

Northants “Ballers”24 - 58Milton Keynes “Lions”

Northants “Ballers”38 – 26Coventry “Tornadoes”

The young Northants “Ballers” picked up their first ever competitive win with a 38-26 triumph over Coventry “Tornadoes”. The win came thanks to some determined defensive play, the efforts of Josh Percival-Round and some encouraging long range shooting from Siam Chowdhray, Greg Emerson and Ollie Thomas.

Earlier in the day “Ballers” had gone down to Milton Keynes with Percival-Round once more outstanding for the Northants team.

Wellingborough “Phoenix”61 – 85Northants “Thunder Too”

The Northants “Thunder Too” under 13 team picked up an important win against local rivals Wellingborough “Phoenix” in a full length one off game. “Thunder Too” got off to an excellent start jumping out to a 13-5 lead but “Phoenix” responded well and by half time and pulled back to lead 40-36.

Some excellent defensive work from Callum Howard and important rebounding from Richard Bishop-Bailey wrestled the advantage back to “Thunder Too” and thanks to free scoring from a sick Georgia Elliott-King and Mohamed Janneh went on a 21-0 run.

In the 24 points win Janneh top scored with 23 points, Elliott-King contributed 13 while Lois Bain and Joe O’Connor also made important contributions

“Thunder” keep Play Off hopes alive

Under 13 Midlands (North) Conference

Northants “Thunder” 18 – 66Mansfield “Giants”

Northants “Thunder43 – 33City of Birmingham

The Northants “Thunder” under 13 team kept up their quest for an end of season Play Off place with a brace of victories last weekend. They opened with an easy win over a young Mansfield “Giants” team despite Coach Mike Round imposing numerous constraints on his team.

City of Birmingham provided much stiffer opposition and with guard Hanson-Young causing “Thunder” a great deal of trouble looked capable of causing a minor shock. C.O.B. led 23-14 at half time and some sharp words were needed in the “Thunder” locker room at half time. In the second half the visitors were restricted to just nine points while “Thunder” poured in 29 to take a hard-fought win.

Over the course of the two games Sam Percival-Round scored a total of 44 points. Andrew Usher and the ever improving Alex Smith provided good support.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Blank day for Moulton College

Despite numerous injuries and illnesses Moulton College still managed to field three teams in various competitions last Wednesday but all three teams were beaten.

British Colleges Male Elite Cup 2nd Round

South East Essex College103 - 88Moulton College ‘A’ Team

Last season Moulton reached the semi final of this competition but they were dumped out of this season’s competition by a talented South East Essex College side.

Moulton held the lead until midway through the third period of play with the home side struggling to cope with the athleticism of Moulton captain Jermayne Laing. Once in front however SEEC were able to close out the game in the fourth quarter. In that quarter Moulton’s main threat came from Jake Wyatt who scored ten points in that final ten minutes.

In the 15 points set back Laing scored 30 points and Wyatt 20 while Leon Henry and Jonny Yates provided good support with 14 and 13 points respectively.

British Colleges Female Cup 1st Round

Bilborough College67 – 50Moulton College

Moulton exited the British Colleges Cup at the first hurdle going down by 17 points to perennial rivals Bilborough College. It is unfortunate that two of the better teams in the country are both situated in the East Midlands and therefore play each other in the early stages of every Cup competition.

Moulton travelled to Nottingham without two of there leading players but were competitive with their opponents throughout the first quarter. Bilborough fielding two England internationals eased away in the second quarter and led 34-24 at half time.

Bilborough continued to hold the advantage in the second half despite the efforts of the Moulton girls and the 17 points defeat represented a tremendous effort from all six players. In the 67-50 defeat Chloe Moss top scored with 17 points while Katie Bayliss contributed 14.

British Colleges Male Non-Elite Cup 2nd Round

John Leggott College55 – 41Moulton College ‘B’ Team

The Moulton College ‘B’ team made the long journey to Scunthorpe for this Non-Elite Cup game in the knowledge that because of an administrative error they would be eliminated from the competition anyway.

After the long journey to North Lincolnshire the Moulton boys made a sluggish start to the game and found themselves trailing 20 points to 6 after the first period of play. Things improved in the second quarter but Moulton still trailed 40-18 at half time.

A switch to a zone defence for the second half put a completely different complexion on the game and Moulton won both the third and fourth periods to finally go down by 14 points, Coach John Collins was full of praise for all eight of his players who all gave a 100% effort.