Press Release 9
Gutsy “Moulton” win a nail-biter
Junior Men’s Midland Premier Division
Northants “Moulton”88 – 86Doncaster “Eagles”
The Northants “Moulton” Junior Men made it three wins in a row but not before they had done everything in their power to lose the game against Doncaster “Eagles” last Saturday. First the “Moulton” team played as if they had been declared a charity by turning the ball over to their opponents on a regular basis during the first period of play after which they trailed 16-22.
“Moulton” were able to correct their errors in the second quarter turning in an efficient display of basketball to take the period 29-21 and lead 45-43 at half time.
In the third quarter all the old habits returned and with point guard Johnny Yates and centre Dan Shaw in foul trouble a defeat looked to be on the cards. By the end of the period they trailed 68-71 and that three point deficit grew to seven points early in the fourth quarter. Coach John Collins then decided to gamble with two rookie players, centre James Caan and off-guard Merson Paul and a switch to a trapping zone defence. This forced Doncaster to take rushed shots and on numerous occasions Cann came up with the rebound. This enabled “Moulton” to launch a series of fast break led by Leon Henry and orchestrated by Johnny Yates.
A 17-6 charge had given “Mouton” the advantage at 87-83 but then they were guilty of committing careless fouls and allowing “Eagles” to close to 87-86 with three of four free throws. Collins re-introduced starting centres Shaw and Jake Wyatt back to the action and Shaw was immediately fouled after securing an offensive rebound. He made one of two of the resulting free throws to give his team an 88-86 lead and some determined defence then forced an “Eagles” turn over.
All “Moulton” had to do was to keep possession of the basketball and this they did for over 20 seconds before one their players inexplicably strayed into the keyway and was called for a three second violation. With eight seconds left on the game clock Doncaster called a time out which meant they would in-bound the ball from the halfway line. “Moulton” hustled their hearts out to prevent “Eagles” getting a shot away but right on the buzzer they were called for a foul. Doncaster’s Parker went to the free throw line with the chance of taking the game into overtime but he missed both free throws and “Moulton” had won a game they had seemed destined to lose.
In the two points win Johnny Yates had an outstanding game recovering from early errors to score29 points and dishing out five assists. Yates was well supported by Leon Henry who scored 23 points while Shaw and Wyatt both had 11 points and pulled down over 20 rebounds between them.
Big win for Junior Men in Leicester
Junior Men’s Midland Conference
Leicester “Cannons” II 42 -75Northants “Thunder”
The Northants “thunder” Junior Men’s team to Beauchamps College in Leicester on Sunday and recorded a convincing 75-42 victory over the Leicester “Cannons” second string.
For most of the game Leicester played a zone defence but were still unable to contain passes into Phil Humphrey who ended the game with a personal tally of 28pts. “Thunder were also successfully running their fast break with Chris Ketchell who closed with 12 points frequently appearing at the scoring end of those breaks.
Leading 41-18 lead at half time the “Thunder” coaching staff were able to give all their players plenty of court time and Chris Dalton, and Jezz Rose caught the eye with some aggressive defensive work. Leicester switched to a full court man-to-man defence later in the game which initially slowed “Thunder” down but as the home side tired the county boys were able to exploit the gaps and run in some easy fast break scores.
During the final quarter Thunder were able to run their full repertoire of plays and comfortably ran in with a final 75-42 win.
In addition to Humprey and Ketchell, Craig Hampton contributed 10 points.
Under 15 Boys Midland Conference
Derbys “Arrows”17 -43Northants “Thunder”
City of Birmingham31 -28Northants “Thunder”
The Northants “Thunder” Under 15 Boys team travelled to The English Institute of Sport in Sheffield with just nine layers because of injuries and with back to back games against Derbyshire “Arrows” and City of Birmingham this proved to be too difficult a hurdle to climb.
Just a few weeks ago The Northants “Thunder” inflicted a heavy defeat on “Arrows” so it wasn’t surprising that the Sheffield outfit elected to play a containing zone defence. Coach Peter Dewsnap had to take an early time out to remind his players how to attack this defensive formation.
“Thunder” made the necessary adjustments but if their fast break wasn’t successful they tended to rely too much on individuals for scoring opportunities. To often shots were rushed because of lack of patience but a comfortable win was still achieved thanks to 13 points from Garnet Walters and 11 and 10 from Jordan Marshall and Ben Care with these three players also dominating the rebounding statistics.
Against City of Birmingham “Thunder” could look back on six missed lay ups and a success rate of just three from eleven from the free throw line as reasons for this narrow defeat. The teams were evenly matched with both teams playing hard-nosed man to man defence and once again “Thunder” showed deficiencies in their half court offence.
Already reduced to nine players Coach Dewsnap suffered a further blow when Jordan Marshall picked up a ‘dead leg’ early in the game and was forced out of the contest. In Marshall’s absence Alistair McLure stepped into the breach and performed admirably and there were excellent efforts from Ben Care, Cameron Emerson and Garnet Walters.
Two easy wins for Under 14 Boys
Under 14 Boys Midland Conference
Northants “Thunder”88 -21Leicester “Sparks”
Northants “Thunder”76 – 19Derbys “Arrows”
The Northants “Thunder” Under 14 Boys recorded two convincing wins over Leicester “Sparks” and Derbys “Arrows” last Saturday.
Against “Sparks”, Matt Yates led the scoring with 24 points while against “Arrows” every one of the “Thunder” players got onto the score sheet. In this game Coach Grahame Yates was particularly pleased with the efforts of Matt Joseph who scored 16 points and rebounded well. Sam Round supported well with 11 points while Matt Mansfield, Matt Yates and James Harrison all contributed 8.
