The Body and Mind Kent Crusaders secured another season in English basketball’s second division when they were awarded a victory over Liverpool, with the Merseyside team unable to reach Canterbury due to road closures on the M25. Despite regular conversation between the teams, it was finally decided to award the game to Crusaders (at 7:00) once it was determined Liverpool could not arrive within 3 hours of the scheduled 6:30 tip-off.

The Crusaders final game of the season had drawn a club record crowd to the Body and Mind Centre in Canterbury, including 75 members of Canterbury High School’s Basketball team.

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Next Week the Body and Mind Kent Crusaders face a crucial relegation battle as they travel to play fellow relegation battlers the Plymouth Raiders II.

Plymouth who are lead by Jean Wakanena are a tough combative team who like Kent have found themselves undersized this season. Plymouth also have had the better of Kent this season having beaten the Crusaders 87-75 in the league, and in the Patrons Cup.

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The Body and Mind Kent Crusaders ended their six game losing streak this weekend winning 78-57 against Leicester Warriors on Sunday, but only after losing 72-86 against Birmingham Athletics the previous day.

The upshot of the weekends action is that Kent have moved out of the relegation zone with the Crusaders currently lying in ninth.

Kent were at a disadvantage before the tip off as they faced Birmingham, as the Crusaders were without forwards Mike Webber or Angelo Irving. And throughout the game Kent struggled to deal with the size of Birmingham’s forwards. One of the few positive notes for the Crusaders was the performance of guard James Harris who continued his recent good form, scoring 17.

Birmingham exploited this advantage to the full in the first and second quarters and were leading by 17 points (45-28) at halftime, with a large number of their points coming from strong inside play.

Kent fought back in the second half but despite an improved performance 72-86 was as close a scoreline as Kent could manage as Birmingham coasted home for the win.

After that setback Kent rallied strongly to face Leicester. Kent’s intensity and defensive coordination was much improved and the main reason for the win.

Gary Davison had a fantastic game and made a little piece of Crusaders history with the clubs first triple double with 21 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists. Davison’s performance helped to inspire the Crusaders offensively as Kent found their way to the basket with much more confidence than against Birmingham; with James Acres and James Harris adding 15 and 13 to the total.

The game started well with an extremely tight opening quarter in which both sides took the lead. Davison was Kent’s stand out player scoring 10 points in the quarter as Kent took a narrow 22-18 lead into the second quarter.

Kent built on its lead in the second quarter with Acres adding eight points to take the lead into double figures. It was an exceptional return to form for Acres after a number of games off injured showing the player is truly back to his best.

Leicester fought back through Drew Barrett but Kent stedied the ship thanks to an offensive rebound and putback from Damian Lyons and were able to go into halftime with an 42-33 point lead.

In the third Kent quickly re-established their double digit lead with a couple of jump shots from Paul Jessop and a 3 from James Harris. Leicester came back at Kent once more again through Barrett. Leicester were able to get within 6 of Kent’s total. But Davison was to have the final word in the quarter scoring with an acrobatic lay-up.

Kent have lost a number of games recently in the fourth quarter and came into this one with more than a little determination that it would not happen again. Spreading their attack Kent created more opportunities on offence, and almost immediately the new tactics paid dividends; James Harris managed to get fouled on a three point shot before hitting consecutive 3’s to push Kent’s lead back up to 13. Kent were truly in the driving seat now and began to blow the game open. The Crusaders defence held Leicester to just two baskets for the rest of the quarter as the Warriors scored just 8 points in the final quarter. Davison and Mike Webber both made foul shots as Kent closed out an impressive 21 point victory, the game ending 78-57. Ken Coach Jesse Sazant commented after the game:

“This was one of our most pleasing results of the season. As a team we stepped up and played with pride at both ends of the floor. Pete and Damian did a great job making the little plays that don’t show up on a scoresheet but are so important to winning.”

The Body and Mind Kent Crusaders face another busy weekend when they travel to Birmingham on Saturday to play the Birmingham Athletics before returning home to host the Leicester Warriors on Sunday.

Kent know that a couple of good results at the weekend could be crucial as they try and stave off relegation.

Birmingham, who are currently tied in fifth place in the league, has already beaten Kent once this year winning 71-64 in front of the Crusaders home crowd.

Sunday sees Kent play host to Leicester who like Birmingham have already beaten Kent this season. Kent lost out by 8 points in Leicester after an exciting overtime shootout between the two sides. The Warriors enter the game fresh off capturing the Patron’s Cup last weekend.

Kent Coach Jesse Sazant says despite his team’s long slide down the league rankings he is confident his side can win points this weekend. “These are two games that are definitely winnable. Although our record isn’t great, we’ve only lost 3 games by double figures and have lost 5 games by less than 5 points. We know we can compete with and defeat these teams.”

Assistant coach Pete Ayling commented. “We’ve had a real disappointing season and recently we’ve been putting in some good performances but we haven’t been getting the results, there’s a real determination in the side now to win some games now and regroup before next year.”h

Sunday’s game tip-off at 2:30 at Body and Mind. There is no pre game clinic this week

Ryan Richards is the finest young basketball player that Kent has produced in recent years and is Kent’s best chance for representation in both the elite NBA and the GB Basketball team at the 2012 Olympics.

Ryan, who first played elite basketball with the Kent Crusaders, now plays his basketball full time with Spain’s Gran Canaria where he has quickly become a key member of their under 16 and 18 squads. Last season, while still only 14, Ryan regularly featured for the Crusaders men’s teams quickly earning his teammates and opponents respect.

Basketball is a much bigger sport in Spain than it is in Britain, with both Real Madrid and Barcelona fielding professional basketball sides. Richards has shown a huge improvement already after accepting the scholarship to Gran Canria’s academy. Recently he top scored with 33 points heling the Gran Canria regional team to a national championship.

Ryan, now 15 and originally from Sittingbourne, came back to Britain recently and we took the opportunity to talk to him first time about life in Spain:

How does playing in Spain compare to playing in England?

I’ve been in Spain for about six months now and it’s been great. Things are a lot different over here and it’s a whole different culture. We train here everyday and at first I struggled a bit with it. There’s a lot of lifting weights and I’ve improved a lot physically and my game has come on a lot. Living on my own in a different country has been good for me and I feel I’ve improved both as a player and as a person.

What’s it been like getting used to life in Spain – have you learned the language?

I’m still learning the language but Canaria has loads of guys from all over the world, from places like the Czech Republic and Somalia and most of them speak pretty good English so it’s been alright so far.

And the food?

The food’s alright, most of the time we’re on a special diet to help us put on weight but on Sundays we get to eat traditional food like Paella.

What do you hope to do next?

Well I want to go North and get a contract with one of the big clubs like Barcelona or Real Madrid, they have the same badge and everything as the football clubs. Then I want to go to America to one of the colleges and finally to the NBA!

Good luck with that!

Thanks

What’s it like being back in the UK?

Cold! It feels very cold over here. I’ve been training with the guys (Kent Crusaders) and it felt good to be back, although all the plays have changed and I didn’t really know what was going on.

What are the coaches like in Spain?

The training in Spain is really good, I’m stronger a lot faster and my fundamentals have improved a lot

Does your new coach shout as much as Jesse? (Jesse Sazant, Kent’s head coach)

(Laughs) No, no one shouts as much as him!

The Body and Mind Kent Crusaders lost 83-82 to Mansfield Express at the weekend, Kent’s sixth defeat in a row. This result means the Crusaders play-off hopes are hanging by a thread and plunges Kent into the end of season relegation battle.

The game was unbelievably close with neither side establishing control over the other throughout the game. However Kent was in control to win the game with just forty seconds left on the clock when two questionable refereeing decisions effectively handed Mansfield the game.

Kent Coach Sazant says his team’s consistency must improve if the side is to stop their current slide. “We just simply can’t seem to put together a consistent performance against anyone outside of the top 3 teams in the league.”

Kent, who were missing captain Paul Jessop and James Harris – both deadly long range shooters, struggled to get their outside game going and could only manage a couple of 3 pointers on the night.

Once again the Crusaders struggled to cope with the superior height of their opponents, Mansfield’s 6’8 forward Dave Passmore was effectively able to score on a whim with 29 points on the night Sazant recognises his team’s lack of height as a major issue to be addressed: “Once again our lack of a physical presence cost us. It is something that has hurt us all year. Our forwards have now missed 85 games between them through injury this season. We knew we would be small coming into the season and these injuries have made the situation much tougher.”

With neither side displaying any real quality the game was tied at 40-40 by the end of the half with the lead changing hands numerous times over the course of the two quarters.

By the third quarter the game had become a clash of two opposing styles of basketball, Kent lacking any real height and unable to score at range were forced to penetrate inside and score from lay-ups, Mansfield’s points came almost exclusively through post players most notably Passmore and Tirstan Lawson. Despite this Kent were able to register a slight 57-60 lead going into the fourth.

In the fourth quarter the game finally burst into life, with a total of 9 lead changes throughout the quarter. Mansfield took the lead first through Willamz Omope, Kent then struck back through James Parker to retake it. The lead swung back and fourth two more times and with 40 seconds to go Kent were up by just one at 81-82. After the Crusaders missed a potential game winning shot, the referee called a questionable offensive rebounding foul even though Mansfield were in clear control of the ball. This allowed Mansfield to walk the length of the court and hit 1 of 2 foul shots to draw level with just 16 seconds left. After Kent yet again missed a shot to break the tie, Gary Davison was called for blocking with1 second on the clock and Mansfield 80 feet from the basket. As the whistle blew Omope was already three steps past Davison, about to launch a desperation attempt.

Sazant was furious with the referee’s decisions: “This was the worst example I have seen of a referee deciding the game in the hundreds of games I have coached. Although neither team played great on the night, the players were not given the opportunity to decide the game. It is an incredibly frustrating way to lose.”

Assistant coach Pete Ayling said that the Crusaders need to work harder at closing out games in the fourth quarter; “It is very disappointing to fall just short again, we need to work harder on closing out games. It’s down to us now to show our character and resilience to end the season strongly.”

Mike Webber returned from injury to lead Kent with 15 points. Ayling (13), Damian Lyons (12) and James Parker (11) also scored double figures. Lawson (22) and Omope (19) did a strong job supporting Passmore’s scoring.

The one ray of light for the Crusaders is that they now have a two-week break before their next games away to Birmingham Athletic on the 10th of March and home to the Leicester Warriors on the 11th. According to Damien Lyons the Crusaders must use this time to regroup. “Obviously we’re very disappointed with the result. We’ve got two weeks to regroup now and get ready for the rest of the season.”

The Crusaders losses at the weekend have left them in a precarious position in the league, which makes next weekend’s game, which sees Kent travel to face fellow strugglers Mansfield, absolutely crucial if the Crusaders are to remain in the league.

Sazant reinforced this saying; “This is a crucial game for us with Mansfield being one of our nearest competitors. We need to make sure we beat the teams around us in the table over the last month of the season.”

Kent (4-12) and Mansfield (4-13) are currently part of a 3 way tie for ninth, with Kent holding a game in hand.

Mansfield, despite lying in the lower reaches of Division 2, has a couple of the leagues top scorers in 6’4 forward Tristan Lawson and 6’3 guard Williamz Omope. Omope was hugely influential in Mansfield’s December victory over the Crusaders and Sazant has targeted the player; “Omope is a really key player for them, the rest of the players really feed off him so we need to force him into difficult shots and not let him get going.”

Kent’s Gary Davison commented: “We’ve put in performances over the weekend that should be enough to beat a team like Mansfield but we can’t be complacent we’ve not been getting the rub of the green and we need to show what we can do.”

Victory next week could really put to bed many of the Crusaders relegation issues however another defeat, especially against a side below the Crusaders in the league could lead to Kent having the worst kind of finish to their season.

Gary also took the opportunity to thank the fans for their support: “ We really appreciate the fans for coming out to see us over the past few difficult weeks.”

It was another disappointing weekend for the Body and Mind Kent Crusaders, losing to both the Tamar Valley Cannons, 78 to 97, and the league leading Derby Trailblazers 93-96.

Saturday’s game against Tamar was scrappy with neither side able to impose itself fully on the game until the fourth quarter when Tamar stepped up their game, scoring no less than 35 points in the final 10 minutes to win convincingly.

Tamar was lead by 6’5 forward Matt Peard who had an excellent shooting game, scoring 29 points with numerous 3 pointers. Gary Davison (20) and Paul Jessop (16) lead the scoring for the Crusaders, backed up by Steve Findley (12) and Angelo Irving (10.)

In the opening quarter Kent matched the visitors shot for shot as a trio of 3 pointers by Tamar’s Saul Rodgers (15 points) was answered by a 10-0 run sparked by Kent captain Paul Jessop, who hit 12 in the first quarter. Kent were ahead by nine before a last minute 35 foot shot banked shot from Tamar brought the first quarter to end 25-19.

The second quarter saw both sides cancel each other out and neither side could establish any real momentum. However in the final moments of the half Tamar were able to gain a moral boosting lead through Adam Hatchell, the half ending 42-44.

Kent came back in the third thanks to the scoring of Angelo Irving, who hit 6 points, as Kent went on a 10-2 run on the back of an improved Crusaders defensive performance. Tamar rallied through Peard and Hatchell and retook the lead with a barrage of 3 pointers. An 8-3 run for the Crusaders in the final minutes of the quarter tied the game at 62 all.

The final quarter saw Tamar come out of the gates on fire taking the Crusaders offence apart, Tamar hit 21 points in the first five minutes to effectively win the game. The quarter was marred by an unfortunate incident involving Kent’s Lee Butters and Matt Peard, which ended with both players being ejected from the game. Kent dug in and started to press and gamble but could come only as close as 8 before Tamar took over the game to coast home easy winners 97-78.

Jessop stated Butters’s ejection from the game in the final quarter as the reason for Kent’s final quarter capitulation; “Lee’s ejection didn’t help, any focus we had left prior to that was gone, it was a pivotal moment of the game and to lose it then was fatal”

After the game coach Sazant apologised for his team’s lack of form. “For stretches of each game we seem like a team capable of making a serious run in this league, but we just seem to have a stretch of each game where we don’t get the job done. We need to dig in and get some results over the last month of the season.”

Sunday’s performance was much improved, with the league leaders only managing to win by only three points, their slimmest margin of victory this season.

Kent’s shooting and defence was much better than on Saturday, with the Crusaders responding well to the challenge of facing the league favourites.

The Crusaders scoring was lead by Gary Davison who hit 21, including five three pointers backed up by James Parker (19 and 6 assists) and James Harris (14 points).

After the game Harris said his sides improved performance was due to improved motivation from the Crusaders. “Were fed up of losing and playing the team at the top of the league gave us extra motivation. To run them so close shows we can beat anyone.”

The crowd at the Body and Mind Centre saw an explosive start to the game as both teams set a punishing pace to the game, with Kent trailing by 21-23 by the end of the first.

Kent had their finest moments of the game in the second quarter when they took over the game in the final minutes of the half to take the lead by halftime, 50-44.

Kent were able to stretch their lead to ten at one point in the third but as the quarter went on Derby were able to come back through Simon Spencer, who top scored with 26 points, and the third ended with just one point in it 67-66.

The Crusaders began the fourth strongly, hitting 11 straight points to go ahead by 78-70. However Derby, showing the class that has made them league favourites came back into the game and levelled the game at 84 all with only 3 minutes to go. Derby then took the lead with five crucial points. Kent was forced to foul to stop the clock and although the Crusaders hit a number of three pointers the Trailblazers were able to sink their free throws. And despite a valiant comeback, which saw Kent come within just 1 point of the leaders Kent were unable to prevent Derby taking the win 90-93.

Sazant praised his players’ performance after the game claiming: “This was a fantastic effort with lots of players stepping up. If we had produced this kind of effort on Saturday we would have easily won.”