Freckleton Shines in Hemel Double-Winning Weekend - NBL Round Up, Week 15 - Hoopsfix.com
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Freckleton Shines in Hemel Double-Winning Weekend – NBL Round Up, Week 15

By on January 9, 2019
Blayne Freckleton

The NBL returned for 2019 this weekend, with no team having a better start to the year than Hemel Storm who saw two outstanding performances from guard Blayne Freckleton.

Here’s a round up of all the action:

NBL Division 1

Worthing Thunder 92-76 Thames Valley Cavaliers
Worthing Thunder started the New Year by keeping pressure at the top of the table with a 92-76 win over Thames Valley Cavaliers.

Thunder dominated the second quarter, where they poured in 29 points to gain a cushion they would hold on to the rest of the way for a sixteen point victory.

Brendan Okoronkwo scored 27 points, 4 assists and 2 steals. He was well supported by Jorge Ebanks with 18 points and 8 assists, Zaire Taylor with 16 points and Alex Owumi with 15 points.

Abdoulaye Sylla had 25 points and 14 rebounds to lead Thames Valley, Martelle McLemore added 21 and Elliott Defreitas had a 10-point, 10-rebound double-double.

Worthing Thunder sit in second place at 10-3, whilst Thames Valley are 7-4.

Box score.

Barking Abbey Crusaders 84-66 Bradford Dragons
Barking Abbey had a strong start to 2019 with an 84-66 home win over Bradford Dragons.

BA almost led from start to finish, using a 10-0 run in the opening period to take an early 14 point lead and never looked back.

Jonathan Brown had 21 points, Tautvydas Meliauskas went 5-of-8 from three point range for 18 points, whilst Robin Bedford added 17 for BA, who received 28 points from their bench.

Rihards Sulcs had 20 points and 13 rebounds to lead Bradford, whilst Ricky Fetske had 12 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists but was held to 4-of-16 shooting.

BA climb to 5-7 in 9th place, with Bradford at 6-6.

Loughborough Riders 83-66 Leicester Warriors
Loughborough took care of business at home with an 83-66 win over Leicester Warriors in a local derby.

Riders poured in 47 points in the first half, taking a commanding 15 point lead into the break, cruising the rest of the way.

Lucien Cristofis had 20 points to lead Loughborough, with Niall Harris and Reis Pinnock adding 11 each, as the Riders improved to 7-3.

Leicester received 22 points from Lamin Willan, and 18 points, 14 rebounds and 4 assists from Raph Thomas-Edwards.

Box score.

Derby Trailblazers 92-98 Hemel Storm
Hemel Storm opened their double-header weekend with a 92-98 road win over Derby Trailblazers.

Hemel outscored Derby 30-21 in the opening quarter, behind a blistering display from Blayne Freckleton, resulting in the home side playing catch up for all but the opening few seconds.

Freckleton went 6-of-7 from three point range in the opening quarter, finishing up 7-of-10 on his way to a game-high 35 points. Leome Francis also haunted his former side, completing a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds, whilst Bode Adeluola had 18 points.

In a more even second half Derby’s pressing defence caused problems for the visitors and coupled with some defensive lapses by Hemel the home team was allowed to get back on terms, 86 – 87, with just four minutes to play.

But Storm held their nerve. A jump shot by Bode Adeluola, Freckleton’s seventh three- pointer and a Francis power lay-up re-established Hemel’s lead and they sealed victory with free-throws from Noel and Francis.

Benson Arogbo led Derby with 20 points and 8 assists, Trey Wilford had 27, 8 rebounds and 5 assists, whilst Malcolm Smith had a foul-plagued 17 points and 6 rebounds.

“We got off to a terrible start,” admitted the Trailblazers Head Coach Matt Shaw. “We allowed Freckleton to get into rhythm early and after that we were always playing catch up. Fortunately, Benson was excellent for us, especially in the first half and he kept us in the game at time, with Tre also making some excellent contributions,” he said.

“It was pleasing to see how we battled in the second half. We gave ourselves a legitimate chance to win the game, but made some poor decisions and didn’t hit many shots in the last few minutes. Credit to Hemel though; they shot the ball very well.”

Hemel are now 3-8 in 12th.

Team Solent Kestrels 101-60 Essex Leopards
League leaders Team Solent Kestrels got back to winning ways in the New Year with a 101-60 rout of Essex Leopards.

Kestrels dominated throughout to increase their stranglehold at the top of the Division 1 table, led by Tayo Oyefusi’s 21 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals, whilst Nick Lewis and Travis Charles also had 21 points a piece and Kestrels combined for a huge 32 assists as a team.

Essex Leopards had 3 players with 11 points to lead their scoring charge, Findlay Wood, Lee Hodges and Luke Mascall-Wright whilst Hodges collected 15 boards.

“It was fantastic to be back at Places Leisure in front of our home fans after a month on the road to finish 2018,” Solent Head Coach Matt Guymon commented.

“I felt a renewed sense of purpose & energy from the guys at both ends of the floor and that was reflected in the performance. Hopefully we can continue with this mentality to build some momentum over the next few weeks with some important games on the schedule.”

Essex Head Coach Tom Baker added:

“It was probably our worst performance of the season against Solent on Saturday. Not just because of the result but in the manner in which it came.”

Kestrels improved to 11-1 at the top of the table, Leopards fell to 3-7 in 13th place.

Box score.

Manchester Magic 87-98 Reading Rockets
Reading Rockets continued Manchester’s tough season, coming away with an 87-98 come-from-behind win.

With Rockets finding themselves 19-38 down midway through the second quarter, Head Coach Alan Keane made some switches in personnel to mount a comeback, trailing by 11 at the break before dominating the third with 30 points in the quarter, to take a single digit lead into the fourth, and taking the final period by 10 to get the victory.

Trae Pemberton finished with a 34 point, 6 rebound, 5 steal outing, Arinze Emeka-Anyakwo had 15 points and AJ Carr 14. Sixteen year old Sam Grant finished with 8.

Reading are now 8-4 in third place, Manchester sit bottom in 14th at 1-11.

Box score.

Derby Trailblazers 86-87 Leicester Warriors (OT)
Leicester Warriors added to Derby’s woes over the weekend with an 86-87 overtime victory.

Derby fought back in the fourth, coming from ten points down to take the lead courtesy of a pair of Malcolm Smith free-throws with 1:16 remaining. A basket from former Derby guard Martyn Gayle swung the game back in Leicester’s favour and when Kayne King could only convert one of two at the line with eight seconds remaining, it was clear overtime would be needed.

The Trailblazers led on four separate occasions in the extra period and also tied the scores at 84-all, but despite having the final possession, they couldn’t convert it into the point or two they needed to either force another extra period or to win the game.

For Leicester, it was former Derby fan favourite Martyn Gayle who led the way with 21 points, including five three-pointers, all but one of which came in the second quarter, which is almost certainly where the Trailblazers lost the game.

Malcolm Smith led Derby with 20 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists, Oli Stanley completed a double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds, Tre Wilford added 16 points despite being hampered by foul trouble.

Elsewhere, Jake Wesselingh chipped in with 10 points, and King had 9 points and 8 assists, Raphell Thomas-Edwards had 18 points and 19 rebounds, and Alex Wilson had 13.

“Every time we play Warriors it’s close,” commented the Trailblazers Head Coach Matt Shaw. “Derby against Leicester has been a great local derby over the years and this one was no different whatsoever. Unfortunately, we gave ourselves a mountain to climb once again.

“I’m sure it was very exciting for the fans, as both teams had chances. We missed some free throws as they did too, so it makes the defeat a little worse to take, as we know we could have won that one.

“We have to regroup now. That pair of games mark the midpoint of the league season. We are sitting sixth in division one, with 7 & 6 record, so there’s still a lot to play for,” he said.

Warriors are now 4-9, Derby dropped to 7-6 in sixth place.

Box score.

Nottingham McDonalds Hoods 72-64 Team Newcastle
The Nottingham McDonald’s Hoods earned a very hard fought 72-64 home win against Team Newcastle with some fourth quarter heroics.

The win was the Hoods 150th in all competitions in their 10 year history, but they were made to work for it.

Having trailed by as many as 18, the Hoods fought back across the third and fourth quarters, knocking down threes, and getting stops defensively as they held the visitors to just 8 points in the fourth quarter to overturn the deficit and stun Newcastle.

Tintin Watts’ 14 points led Nottingham, with Cole Welle having a 12-point, 12-rebound double-double. Luke Mitchell had 7 points, 5 rebounds and 8 assists.

For Newcastle, Ben Seipt led with 14 whilst missing just one shot, Onyekachi Nzerem had 12 points and 10 rebounds, with Tosan Evbuomwan adding 11 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists.

Hoods improved to .500 at 6-6, whilst Newcastle are now 4-7 in 10th place.

National Trophy

Hemel Storm 96-95 Essex Leopards
Hemel Storm prevailed 96-95 over Essex Leopards in a dramatic clash on Sunday infront of a packed crowd at Hemel Leisure Centre.

With 0.6 of a second left and his team trailing by a point Leopard’s impressive American import Asante Sandiford – who had tallied 37 points and 12 rebounds in the game – failed to connect on a pair of free-throws before missing the tip-in on the buzzer.

Hemel’s win was achieved without Storm’s starting point guard Bode Adeluola who was injured in Derby the previous night, or his back-up Ian Berry, so Head Coach Robert Youngblood relied on Levi Noel to orchestrate his team’s offence. Noel responded brilliantly throwing eight assists and nailing the crucial go-ahead three-pointer that secured the win.

Blayne Freckleton was once again spectacular, knocking down another six threes for another 35-point outing.

“It was a great weekend for us, a real team effort from everyone,” said a delighted Coach Youngblood. “Winning is a habit, that’s three in a row now and you can be sure that we’ll be working hard to keep it going.

“The guys executed the game plan against Derby to perfection and we closed the game out well whereas before Christmas we’d struggled in similar situations.”

Luke Mascall-Wright finished with 20 points and 8 rebounds, while Sam Newman added 7 assists to his 10 points. Former Hemel big man Leed Hodges finished with a 13 point, 10 rebound double-double, and his ex-Storm team-mate Chuck Duru came off the bench to add 12 points and 7 boards.

“Unfortunately there were moments of lapses which Hemel punished, which has brought our Trophy run to an end,” Essex Head Coach Tom Baker said.

“We will have to move on quickly as games are coming thick and fast for us, we have double headers for the next two weekends and it is crucial we start to pick up wins as soon as possible to improve our league record.

“As heart-breaking as it is to lose by a point and be a position to win the game with little time remaining on the clock, I am proud of our performance last night, with a few minor adjustments I am confident the results will come.”

Hemel’s win against Leopards means they finish joint top of their National Trophy pool in a tie with Reading Rockets but the Berkshire team advances to the semi-finals on the head-to-head result.

Box score.

NBL Division 2

Ipswich 87-79 London Westside
Ipswich got a much needed 87-79 win over London Westside, pulling away in the fourth quarter for victory.

Ethan Price led Ipswich with 18 points and 7 rebounds, whilst teammates Veron Eze and Eivydas Aleksa both contributed 13 points each.

For the visitors, Santiago Leon had 22 points and 13 rebounds, whilst Levi Edwards added 20 of his own.

Ipswich are now 4-6 in 8th place, Westside fell to 2-8.

Box score.

Sussex Bears 90-82 East London All Stars
The Sussex Bears won their third in a row with a 90-82 win over East London All Stars.

NBL Division Two leading scorer Cordaris Townes continued his streak with 31 points and 9 rebounds, with Tomas Seduikis and James Felstead having 15 and 14 points, respectively.

For the visiting London side, Aaron Badibo had a 23-point, 11-rebound double-double whilst Brian Nguru had 29 and 9 rebounds.

Sussex Bears are 5-4 in fourth place, East London are 4-6 in 7th.

Box score.

Derbyshire Arrows 68-98 Westminster Warriors
Westminster Warriors led by as many as 31 on their way to a 68-98 rout of Derbyshire Arrows.

Justin Hitchman led the scoring with 20 points and 9 rebounds, with Jon J Johnson and Juan Manning adding 18 points each.

Joseph Baugh had a game-high 24 points to go along with 10 rebounds for Derbyshire, Przemyslaw Milak also contributed double figures with 11 points off the bench.

Westminster climb to 8-2 in second place, Derbyshire now 3-7 in 9th.

Box score.

NBL Division 3

Sheffield Hallam Sharks 79-53 WLV Albion
Calderdale Explorers 70-98 Sheffield Sabres
Birmingham Mets 72-89 Team Derby Spartans
Charnwood College Riders 66-78 Derby Trailblazers II

NBL Division 4

Birmingham Mets II 79-76 Nottingham Trent Hoods
Warwickshire Hawks 64-61 University of Nottingham
City of Birmingham Rockets 72-70 Mansfield Giants
Kingston Panthers 83-78 Newcastle Eagles U23
Stockport Falcons 59-78 Doncaster Danum Eagles
Myerscough College II 0-20 Liverpool Stars
Chelmsford Lions 101-67 Westminster Dragons
Richmond Knights 76-57 Hemel Storm II
Surrey Rams 75-54 Oxford Stealers
Dorset Storm 62-78 Bristol Hurricanes
Cheshire Wire 49-99 Tameside
Southwark Pride 105-39 Canterbury Christ Church Saints
London United II 78-70 London Thunder Lewisham

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