Around the EBL – Week 15

EBL Division 1

Leeds Carnegie Basketball entered the weekend with the chance to potentially go top of the division, but were unable to win either of their away games, leaving them 6th in the Division One.

On Saturday the faced a Manchester Magic side who had failed to pick up a win from their previous five games.

The Magic took a double digit lead in the third quarter and held the lead until the end to move into 5th place in Division 1.

They were led by Tom Ward with 23 points and big man Ryan Lohfink who put up 22 in the win. Ex-Manchester junior Josh McGinn had 21 points for Carnegie.

“We worked very hard in practice this week. I think we prepared the right things and we defended them very well,” said Magic coach Paul Middleton.

“We out-rebounded them, which is difficult with the athletes they’ve got, and we probably turned the ball over less than we have done recently.

“That’s our best defensive performance for a long time.”

The next day Matt Newby’s side headed to the North East to face a Team Northumbria side who desperately needed a victory having only won two league games the whole first half of the season.

Buoyed by the addition of former Newcastle Eagles junior Aaron Nielsen, Northumbria came out playing very tough from the outset and matched every physical challenge that Leeds sent their way.

Northumbria’s pressure defense limited Leeds to just 8 points in the first quarter and enabled them to open up an early 11 point led. Carnegie refocused for the second period and started trading baskets with Northumbria.

This back and forth continued throughout the remainder of the game as Leeds attempted to fight their way back into contention. However Northumbria was able to keep their composure throughout what became a fiery affair and see out the 77-67 win.

Team Northumbria were led by Nielsen with 17 points, while Armand Anebo top scored for Carnegie with 22.

“We’ve been working hard in practice and the guys knew they had to come out much more consistently this second half of the season,” said TN Head Coach Marc Steutel.

“We know what we need to improve on and we’re looking forward to progressing further.

“Aaron did well in his first game and we’re looking forward to see how he fits in here.”

Leeds Head Coach Matt Newby spoke with Hoopsfix after the game and said: “Sometimes when you play with a young squad, sometimes they let the other teams form come into their thinking.

“We faced a team fighting for their lives today and it showed in their performance. We weren’t good enough and have to now go away and look at ourselves with games against our close competitors coming up in the next few weeks.”

League leaders Hemel Storm continued their impressive form to overcome their toughest opponent so far this season in form of second place Bradford Dragons.

After leading 47-41 at the break, Storm had to withstand an intense Bradford defence which helped the West Yorkshire club tie the game at 63 heading into the final period.In the last quarter Bode Adeluola came up big for the home side and finished with 20 personal points as the game finished 79-78 to the Storm for their tenth win of the season.

“I think Bradford’s extremely aggressive, swarming defence ultimately worked in our favour since they put us on the line where we hit 86 per cent…” said Dave Titmuss, Storm’s Director of Coaching.

“In a one point game, that proved to be a key factor together with our ‘refuse to lose’ attitude.”

The Dragons have now dropped to fourth place after the loss.

The Leicester Warriors find themselves bottom of Division 1 with a 1-9 record after losing on Saturday to the Tees Valley Mohawks.

The Warriors got 26 points from new signing Sherrad Prezzie-Blue and outscored Mohawks 30-18 in the second half, but it wasn’t enough to give them the win they so desperately need to turn their fortunes around.

EBL Division 1 scoring leader Alex Greven scored 19 points for Tees Valley.

Things appear to be going from bad to worse for NASSA as they head into the National Cup Final at the end of this month.

After losing guard Brandon McGill to Surrey United, they’ve now lost five straight league games and now find themselves in eighth place.

On Saturday it was the Bristol Academy Flyers who handed them the defeat in a 68-70 scoreline led by Spencer Wells 18 points.

The next day, however, Bristol travelled to the Essex leopards who, led by 48 combined points from Carl Josey and Howard Crawford, came out 78-73 winners to move up to third place.

“I lost it at half time and asked why I bothered if they don’t do as they’re told,” said Leopards Head Coach Robert Youngblood.

“They were told to pick it up at half-time or there would be changes. We were much better in the second half, and that’s how we need to consistently play.”

The Flyers now find themselves fourth from bottom with a 3-7 record.

The final result in Division 1 saw the Reading Rockets move into second place following a 78-69 victory over the Worthing Thunder.

Josh Wilcher led all scorers with 28 points to go with 7 rebounds and 5 assists.

EBL Division 2

An incredibly quiet weekend in Division 2 with just four games played across the entire division.

Worcester Wolves II picked up just their second win of the season against bottom place Mansfield with an 83-74 victory, while the Eastside Eagles are now 5-5 for the season following a closely fought 82-83 victory over London United.

The Huddersfield Heat hosted two home games this weekend with back to back wins meaning they would take the top spot in D2.

Former Real Madrid forward Miguel Molina led the Heat with 23 points on Saturday as they picked up the 91-65 win over LSBU Brixton Topcats to take their record to 7-0 for the season.

The next day, they faced league leaders Derby Trailblazers, who presented a much tougher challenge. The game was a close encounter until the final quarter when Derby outscored the home side by 18 points to pick up the valuable victory over their title challengers.

Dorr and O’Shea combined for 50 points for Derby while Huddersfield were led by 27 points from guard Salva Mendez.

The Heat have since announced that forward Chris Bigley has departed the club with immediate effect due to work related circumstances. He is set to join D4 North leaders Liverpool in the coming days.

EBL Division 3

Northern Conference

It was announced this week that one of the strongest teams in Division 3 North, the Stockport Falcons, have been withdrawn from all EBL competition for the remainder of the season, meaning that many of their players have moved on to different teams.

Two of note are Daniel Pilkington, who has joined the Sefton Stars, and Josh Houghton who has joined up with Steven Gayle at the Rossendale Raptors.

Starting with Sefton, they faced the Tees Valley Mohawks II away in a thrilling overtime battle at Teeside University.

The Mohawks were buoyed by the re-signing of young guard Rob Donaldson, who had been with the Leicester Warriors for the first half of the season.

Donaldson led the Mohawks to victory in overtime with 36 personal points for just their second win of the season.

Daniel Pilkington top scored for Sefton with 33 points.

The Northants Thunder moved up into 3rd place with an impressive 82-72 win over league leaders the Birmingham Mets, while elsewhere in Birmigham, the A’s easily defeated the Derby Trailblazers II by a scoreline of 83-56.

32 points from Lukasz Siczek helped the Nottingham Hoods to a 66-57 victory over the Sheffield Sabres.

On Sunday it was a battle of two teams led by ex-England guards when Leeds Carnegie II hosted the Sheffield Saints.

Carnegie were led by Jason Swaine and the Saints by Garnett Gayle, both of whom played together in the BBL for the Sheffield Sharks many moons ago.

The 49 year old Gayle, ten years Swaine’s senior, came out on top in this one as his 17 points helped the Saints to a 67-73 win on the day. Swaine led Leeds with 20 points.

Southern Conference

Canary Wharf London Lituanica are now the only undefeated team left in the top three divisions after an impressive 81-107 victory over Team Solent.

Karolis Stepanavicius is finally putting together the string of dominating performances that are expected of him at this level as he finished with 27 points in the win.

The next day Lituanica again picked up the win as they travelled to Oxford Hoops and came away with an 87-113 win to sit in second place in the conference with a 9-0 record.

League leaders, London Greenhouse Pioneers were also successful as they defeated the Bracknell Cobras 52-87 for their tenth win of the season.

Elsewhere, there were wins for the London Phoenicians and the Hackney White Heat who took down Cardiff Met Archers and Barking Abbey respectively.

Mark Gillbard top scored for Plymouth Marjon as they defeated the Solent kestrels 74-59. Gillbard’s 27 points helped move Marjon up into third place in the conference.

EBL Division 4

Northern Conference

The Gateshead Phoenix picked up their first win of the season with a 62-78 win over fellow strugglers Leeds Allerton High Carnegie, while Leeds Tigers were more successful as a 66-51 win over Sefton Stars II puts them in third place in the the conference.

Lampkowski scored 39 points in the Kingston Panthers 96-61 victory over the Newcastle Eagles to send them into second place, two wins behind leaders Liverpool.

Midlands Conference

The Shropshire Warriors have turned their fortunes around with some good recent performances and now sit third in the conference after an impressive 93-67 win over the Loughborough Student Riders II with Hall’s 35 points leading all scorers.

The NULC Knights retained the top spot by spanking the Birmingham Mets II, 94-42, and the Leicester Warriors II picked up an important win over the Bromsgrove Bears, 79-100 with Ugo scoring 38 points for the warriors.

South Eastern Conference

BC Medelynas London continue to storm through the season and currently boast a 13-1 record following a 63-84 win over the Peckham Pride on Saturday to stay top of the conference, while second place Cambridge Cats picked up two wins over the weekend helped by a 40 point performance on Sunday by Sam Richardson.

The College of West Anglia Fury grabbed back to back wins, taking down London Westside II and London Utd Harefield Academy, while the Greenwich Titans defeated the Maidstone Warriors 97-40.
Midlands South West Conference

Leaders Oxford Brookes moved to an 11-2 record with a 95-83 win over second place Middlesex LTBC, while at the other end of the table, last place Reading Rockets II inflicted a 71-68 defeat on the Woking Blackhawk Flyers.

The other wins in the conference came from Oaklands College Wolves and the Hertfordshire Warriors.