The Kent Crusaders secured a first place finish in Patrons Cup Pool 1 with lopsided victories over Northampton Neptunes and Colchester Hornets this weekend. On Saturday the Crusaders beat Northampton 95-60 at home and on Sunday they went to Colchester for a 100-65 victory to remain undefeated for the four games in the tournament.

“We’ve seen some amazing improvement compared to last year when we were out of the Patrons Cup after four games”, said Crusaders head coach Mads Olesen after the weekend. “We’ve brought in some good new players, but really the whole team just plays with so much more confidence than last year, and that confidence just translates into wins. We’re now looking forward to a Patrons Cup semi final at home on February 1st.”

The game against Northampton started out with the Crusaders going up 8-2 after four minutes and after that they never gave up the lead. Several times in the first half the Neptunes came back to within a few points, but every time the Crusaders answered the challenge as Robbie Parker, Simon Mitchell, James Harris or Soren Sorensen found the bottom of the basket in the other end. The half ended with five straight Crusaders points to send the hosts up 38-31.

“At the half I challenged the team to be aggressive at both ends”, said Olesen. “I wanted us to take the ball hard to the basket as the Northampton big men were in a bit of foul trouble, and they couldn’t be real aggressive on defence. I thought Northampton had it a bit too easy when we were defending, and our guards were asked to step up the pressure, and they really did, as we came out with a 15-0 run”.

Before Northampton got their first basket of the second half after four minutes played the Crusader lead had increased to 20, 53-33, as all five of the Crusaders on the floor scored. From there on in the Crusaders calmly closed out the game, increasing the lead to 32 in the start of the third quarter and winning by 35 in the end, 95-60.

“It was quite a surprise to beat Northampton so easily after the three heavy defeats they gave us last year”, said coach Olesen after the game. “I really credit our post players. Northampton’s Reynoso have averaged 40 points against us and had scored 47 points the week before, but Soren Sorensen played some truly great defence against him, especially in the first half. After the run in the start of the second half the game was pretty much decided and we were able to rest some players for the Sunday game, as nobody played more than 22 of the 40 minutes”.

Crusaders’ Canadian star guard Simon Mitchell saw defence as the game decider: “Our aggressive defence in the third quarter really opened up for our fast break scoring and with our big men handling Reynoso really well we managed to build up a big lead”

The Crusaders looked to take control early in Colchester on Sunday as they stormed out of the gate for a 29-11 lead, as Damian Lyons and Simon Mitchell repeatedly beat the Hornets’ defence for layups. The hosts were not about to lie down, though, as they stormed back with a 15-7 run to start off the second quarter to bring them within 36-30. The Crusaders managed to get a few steals towards the end of the half as Mitchell’s quickness proved a tough challenge for the Hornets guards, and the half time score was 51-38 Crusaders.

At the start of the second half the Crusaders went on a 21-3 run to effectively decide the game. Mitchell experienced it this way: “In the first half we gave them too many second chance points, but after the coach got on us at halftime about rebounding and defence we did much better on the boards and eliminated their second chance points and we managed to get out to another big third quarter lead”

JP Dimandja was the deciding factor in this part of the game, as he seemed to get every defensive rebound and effectively secured the hosts got no second chances.

With the Crusaders ahead 75-43 Crusaders forward Steve Findley, who had scored 13 points, including three 3-pointers, dislocated a finger on his right hand, and had to be taken to hospital for x-rays. The injury broke the Crusaders concentration for a little bit, allowing the Hornets to come within 26, 77-51, but that was the last threat of a comeback from the home side, and the Crusaders coasted to an easy 100-65 victory.

Olesen is now looking past the Patrons Cup: “We are now secured the Patrons Cup South Pool win before the last game against Plymouth. The upcoming weekend is the last of three with games both Saturday and Sunday, and while it’s tough on the players, it’s nice to be able to focus on the National Cup fixture against Southampton on Sunday.”

Notes:

• Robbie Parker is now career scoring leader passing ex-captain Paul Jessop in game against Northampton (in 11 less games then Jessop has played)
• Mike Webber and James Harris have moved past Paul Jessop into joint 4th for career games played.
• JP Dimandja moved into 5th on career rebounding list.

Statistics

Kent Crusaders v. Northampton Neptunes 95-60

Patrons Cup Pool 1 (South)

Scoring:

Mets: Reynoso 26, Lyons 15, Spatcher 26

Kent: Parker 27, Webber 15, Harris 14

Full game stats: http://www.fibalivestats.com/matches/1454/00/27/10/78CWVGhQjZiZE/

Colchester Hornets v. Kent Crusaders 65-100

Patrons Cup Pool 1 (South)

Scoring:

Colchester: Matthews 26, Dockrell 12, Wookey 9

Kent: Mitchell 17, Harris 16, Lyons 15. 

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