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Bradford Enjoy Best Ever Start – NBL Round Up, Week 6

By on October 23, 2018
Allie Fullah

We headed into Week 6 of the NBL season this weekend, as League, Cup, Trophy and Shield action all took place.

Here’s a round up of what happened:

NBL Division 1

Team Solent Kestrels 74-50 Nottingham McDonald’s Hoods
Team Solent Kestrels led from start to finish in a 74-50 win over newly-promoted Nottingham Hoods, improving to 3-0 on the season.

Herm Senor II was the stand out performer with 20 points and 11 assists, whilst Tayo Oyefusi had another 16 rebound outing. Fifteen year old Jeremy Sochan made the step up to NBL D1 chipping in 4 points in 10 minutes of action off the bench.

Solent Head Coach Matt Guymon was happy with his side’s display, saying:

“I’m so proud of how our guys locked in defensively and really stuck together for 40 minutes tonight. We will continue to focus on our offensive execution, but overall I felt this was a big step in the right direction for the group.

“Without our captain, Louie Kirkman who welcomed the birth of his new born daughter, guys stepped up with key contributions across the board.”

Luke Mitchell led Nottingham with 11 points, whilst Cole Welle had a 10-point, 13-rebound double-double, but it would not prevent them from dropping to 1-2.

Box score.

Team Newcastle 81-87 Derby Trailblazers
Derby Trailblazers maintained their solid start to the 2018/19 season with an 87-81 away win over Team Newcastle, thanks to an 8-2 run over the final three minutes.

Although the Trailblazers were ahead for the majority of the game, there were eight lead changes and five tied score situations, the last of which came at 79-all with a little over 3 minutes remaining.

“Having only eight turnovers was a key stat for us and really helped us get the job done,” Derby Head Coach Matt Shaw said.

“Newcastle have a largely new squad this year and I think they’ll pick up a lot of wins once they’ve got used to each other and the league. To win on the road up there when we were short on bodies due to injuries once again was a really good result for us.”

Malcolm Smith led Derby with 25 points and 8 rebounds, Tre Wilford had 19 points, 13 rebounds and 6 steals, and Kayne King had 9 assists to go with his 6 points.

Newcastle were led by 19 points from David Hanson, Eric Stafford had 15 and Tosan Evbuomwan had a 12 point, 12 rebound double-double.

Box score.

Bradford Dragons 87-55 Manchester Magic
Bradford Dragons made it two wins from two against Manchester Magic in the last month with a comfortable 87-55 victory.

Bradford are enjoying their best ever start to a season since joining the top flight of the NBL in 2011, having won their opening six games across all competitions.

Richard Šulcs topped the scoring for Bradford for the third straight game, with 24 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assist, whilst Ricky Fetske had 16 points and 12 rebounds.

Bradford coach, Chris Mellor reflected on the game: “We played well, especially at the defensive end. Our focus, concentration and effort was where it needs to be and we moved the ball well offensively, with contributions from everyone.”

Saul May and club captain, Daniel Pilkington, contributed 10 points each to lead Manchester.

“Tough one today,” Manchester Head Coach Aurimas Verbukas said.

“But that’s what you expect from Coach Mellor and his team. Bradford controlled the game from start to finish, while we were inconsistent. Coach Mellor is one of the best coaches in this league, so this win is well deserved for him and his team.

“If I had to highlight the positives, I would like to point to the two 16 year olds, Saul May & Luke Gordos, who both played a very mature game as they contributed today.”

Box score.

Leicester Warriors 79-100 Worthing Thunder
Worthing Thunder cruised past Leicester Warriors 100-79 on Saturday, improving to 3-0 atop of the league table.

Alex Owumi exploded for 31 points and 10 rebounds, missing just three shots (11-for-14), to lead Worthing, Brendan Okoronkwo had 26, and Zaire Taylor had 22 points, 12 rebounds and 5 assists, as the Thunder shot 57% from the field, leading from start to finish.

Leicester were led by 24 points from Lamin Willan.

Box score.

Loughborough Riders 106-88 Essex Leopards
Loughborough Riders improved to 2-1 with a 106-88 win over Essex Leopards, behind 26 points from Lucien Cristofis.

Cristofis went 10-15 from the field, as Loughborough bounced back from a rough start that saw them allow 31 points in the opening period.

Niall Harris finished with 15 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists, and Giannis Panaretakis added 15 of his own, as Riders got 51 points from their bench.

“Scrappy game,” said Loughborough Head Coach Mark Jarram. “We struggled to get consecutive stops early, but did much better job in the second and fourth quarters where the game was probably won.

“Still learning about this team and trying to figure out what success looks like for us. The guys compete hard and that’s a nice baseline to start with. Good to continually see contributions from throughout the roster.”

Leopards were led by 20 from Chuck Duru, with Sam Newman adding 16.

Box score.

National Cup

Nottingham McDonald’s Hoods 113-75 London Westside
Nottingham Hoods advanced to the fourth round of the National Cup with a 113-75 drubbing of London Westside.

Maher had 33 points to lead the home team, as Cole Welle added 15. Edwards led Westside with 15 points.

Greenwich Titans 81-103 Worthing Thunder
Worthing Thunder booked their spot in the fourth round with an 81-103 road victory over Greenwich Titans.

It means Worthing remain unbeaten in all competitions, as they used a 20-0 run across the third and fourth quarters to pull away.

Ishmael Fontaine had 28 to lead Worthing, with Tom Ward adding 21. Murphy led Greenwich with 26 points.

National Trophy

Reading Rockets 117-95 Hemel Storm
Reading Rockets dominated the second period to secured a 117-95 win over Reading Rockets, to move to 2-0 atop of Pool C in the National Trophy.

With Reading leading by two after the opening quarter, they turned it on in the second, knocking down six three pointers to take an 18 point lead into the halftime break and never look back. The home side finished 14-of-26 from beyond the arc.

Trae Pemberton led Reading with 32 points, whilst AJ Carr finished just short of a triple double, with 25 points, 14 rebounds and 9 assists.

Bode Adeluola had 19 points and 8 rebounds to lead Hemel.

Dave Titmuss, Storm’s Associate Head Coach said: “We played them evenly for three of the quarters but in the second period we just switched off defensively.

“On the plus side, it’s still early in the season and I think we learned a lot from this game that we can improve on in training.”

Box score.

NBL Division 2

London Westside 80-66 London United
London Westside pulled off an 80-66 victory over London United, as both teams moved to a 1-1 record.

Westside overturned an early deficit before dominating the fourth to pull out the win. Tyrell Isaacs played all 40 minutes on his way to 23 points and 7 steals for Westside, with Theo Deleligne adding 17 points and 5 steals as the home side finished with 25 steals.

Westside limited Modestas Krasauskas to 12 points on 4-for-14 shooting.

Box score.

Sussex Bears 74-77 Liverpool
Liverpool move to 2-0 as they held off Sussex Bears with a 74-77 victory at Sir Robert Woodard Academy.

Trailing by as many as 12 in the second half, Sussex fought back – taking the lead in the fourth – before Liverpool were able to steady the ship and pull out the win.

Mark Rangeley was instrumental on his way to 25 points for Liverpool, with David Ulph adding 21 and Jack Hudson having 9 assists to go with his 13 points.

Cordaris Townes shot 28 times for his 22 points to lead Sussex.

Box score.

Greenwich Titans 92-100 Derbyshire Arrows
Przemyslaw Milak had a 32-point outing to lead Derbyshire Arrows to a 92-100 win over Greenwich Titans.

Arrows overturned an early double-digit deficit, dominating the third period to take control for good. Joseph Baugh added 22 points for the visitors, whilst Greenwich were led by 21 points from Murphy and 20 from Ray Akpofure.

Box score.

East London All-Stars 79-70 Ipswich
Ipswich put together multiple fourth quarter rallies but were unable to complete the comeback against East London All Stars on Sunday evening, falling 79-70 and dropping to 0-2.

Ipswich held East London scoreless for four minutes across the third and fourth quarters, before the
hosts put a quick run together behind the talented Jonathan James – who finished with a game-high 28 – to stretch the lead out to twelve
once more.

Colin Dockrell, Veron Eze and Cameron Hawes all hit shots as Ipswich clawed their way back to five down with two minutes to play, but the hosts were able to seal the game at the free throw line.

Ipswich Head Coach John Ellis was pleased with his team’s spirit in the second half but highlighted that there are still many areas to improve upon.

“We got punished for another sloppy start today and from there we struggled to make our way back into the game,” he said.

“Marvin Isebor and Blake Read brought great energy off the bench but we need to get a few more of our senior squad back to fitness soon. We won’t win many games playing defence and boxing out like we did in the first half. That’s frustrating after a promising preseason.”

Eivydas Aleksa led Ipswich with 21 points.

Box score.

London Greenhouse Pioneers 62-63 Myerscough College
Myerscough College overturned a late deficit to escape with a 62-63 win over London Greenhouse Pioneers on Sunday at City Sport.

Trailing by 8 with 4 minutes remaining, Myerscough were led by Mate Okros to pull out a comeback win, as he finished with 17 points to lead the visitors, with Sanmi Fajana adding 14.

“It was a really difficult first league game, made even more so that it was on the road,” said Myerscough coach Neal Hopkins.

“These guys have got to get used to the travel — we started like we travelled and like we were up at 8 a.m., but they showed a lot of hard work and resilience to come through in the fourth.”

London’s Max Hufschlag dominated inside with 31 points and 16 rebounds, but it would not be enough.

Box score.

NBL Division 3

Team Derby Spartans 89-52 WLV Albion
University of Chester 83-75 Team Sunderland
Sheffield Hallam Sharks 82-75 Calderdale Explorers
Stoke on Trent Knights 84-59 Sheffield Sabres
Team Birmingham Elite 94-98 Derby Trailblazers II
Charnwood College Riders 87-70 Birmingham Mets
Team Solent Kestrels II 85-65 Swindon Shock
London BC Medelynas 98-67 Barking Abbey

National Shield

Stoke on Trent Knights 79-58 Tameside
Newcastle Eagles U23 107-66 Calderdale Explorers
Team Derby Spartans 100-70 Liverpool Stars
Charnwood College Riders 110-71 Nottingham Trent Hoods
Sheffield Hallam Sharks 91-74 Warwickshire Hawks
Derby Trailblazers II 73-96 City of Birmingham Rockets
University of Chester 120-62 Anglia Ruskin University
WLV Albion 64-63 Southwark Pride
London BC Medelynas 95-70 Team Solent Kestrels II
Hemel Storms II 69-82 Essex Blades
Team Birmingham Elite 82-90 Bristol Hurricanes
Westminster Dragons 102-84 Cardiff City
Bristol UWE Flyers II 80-85 Oxford Brookes University

NBL Division 4

City of Birmingham Rockets 86-72 Warwickshire Hawks
Oxford Stealers 67-72 Cardiff Met Archers II
Bristol Hurricanes 87-75 RCT Gladiators
Coventry Flames 67-58 Charnwood College Riders II

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