The Body & Mind Kent Crusaders got their first League win of the season, 107-87, behind an impressive shooting performance at home against Birmingham Aston Athletics.

After an even first quarter the Crusaders broke the game open in the beginning of the second quarter. James Harris first hit a 3-pointer and then immediately followed that up with a rare four-point play, hitting another 3-pointer while getting fouled, and making the extra shot. From that point onwards the half belonged to Crusaders, as they went on a 25-6 run to bring the score to 49-25.

The third quarter was an even affair, and the teams entered the fourth quarter with Crusaders up 16, 72-56. This was to be the last time the game seemed within reach for the Athletics, as Crusaders went on another 19-8 run, and entered the last five minutes of the game up 93-66. From then on the Crusaders empties the bench and gave all players valuable experience. The game ended 107-87.

The Crusaders shot 58% from the 3-point line, as James Harris (5 for 7 3-pointers) and Robbie Parker (3 for 5) lit it up from the outside. “While we shot extremely well, the difference tonight was how we got those shots”, said Crusaders head coach Mads Olesen, “We shared the ball and passed up open shots to find team-mates who were even more open. We average 20 assists per game, and tonight we had 42”.

Captain Pete Ayling, recently back from a wedding in Australia, was relieved to get the win, and attributed the win to the team playing with “real intensity and togetherness”.

Crusaders did indeed seem to share the ball more than in previous games, and the sometimes stagnant offence was replaced by ball movement and team play. The team seemed to have found a good offensive balance, with lots of players contributing, but coach Olesen was cautious as he looked ahead: “We can’t let one good game erase the fact that we have played some pretty awful games this season. We have only won one of four games, and we need to remember that hard work and team play got us that win!”

James Harris also mentioned some external motivation as a factor in his and the team’s performance. In the week leading up to the game the Crusader fans called for new players on the Crusader web site, and Harris thought that served as a motivating factor: “I think we were fired up by everyone doubting us. We played as a team, and won as a team”.

Coach Olesen thought the fans had some valid points, and was happy that the team web forum could provide some motivation to the players. He did point out that the four teams the Crusaders have played in the league this season have a combined record of 16 wins and only three defeats, including tonight’s games. “We played the top three teams in the league in the first three games, and while it looked ugly at points, they were good teams, and there’s no reason to write us off after only three of 22 games”.

Notes:

• The 107 points scored is the fourth highest score in club history, and the most points scored in Division 2.
• Robbie Parker is 14 points away from scoring 1000 career points with Crusaders (only Paul Jessop has done this before)
• Rikki Broadmore moved into 2nd place on “assists in a season” with 51 (record is 71 by Gary Davison)

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 2nd, 2007 at 2:46 pm and is filed under Game Reports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.