Thames Valley Dominate Glass to Upset Solent - NBL Round Up, Week 16 - Hoopsfix.com
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Thames Valley Dominate Glass to Upset Solent – NBL Round Up, Week 16

By on January 16, 2019
Thames Valley Cavaliers

In an action packed weekend for the NBL, there was no bigger result than Thames Valley’s upset win over league-leaders Team Solent Kestrels.

Here’s a round up of all the action:

NBL Division 1

Loughborough Riders 55-53 Team Newcastle
Lougborough Riders escaped with a 55-53 victory over Team Newcastle, retaining their space in the top 4.

Lucien Cristofis knocked down the go-ahead free throw to break a tie, and Newcastle were unable to convert again as Loughborough picked up their eighth win on the season.

Jonas Dieterich was the only player in double figures with 14 points for Loughborough, with Niall Harris having 9 points and 8 rebounds and Alex Roberts 6 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists.

Newcastle were led by 12 points from Nikola Urli and 11 from Eric Stafford. Alei Wol had 13 rebounds to go with his 8 points, but the visitors fell to 4-8 in 12th place in the table.

“Although the result was disappointing I was impressed with our defensive effort against a very good offensive team and offensively we put ourselves in a position to win the game,” Newcastle Head Coach Ian Hewitt commented.

“We have had two bad results but the basketball is better and so is our togetherness despite guys missing. Hopefully we can turn that round soon.”

Box score.

Nottingham McDonalds Hoods 90-65 Bradford Dragons
Nottingham made it two straight wins to open the New Year with a comfortable 90-65 win over Bradford Dragons.

The home side led from start to finish to go a game above .500 at 7-6.

Cole Welle and Delaney Powell led the scoring for Nottingham, finishing with 19 each, the former adding 10 rebounds and the latter 8 assists, as nine players got on the scoresheet.

Rihards Sulcs had 21 points and 11 reobunds, Ricky Fetske added a double-double of his own in the loss with 13 points and 12 rebounds, while Andreas Lycoudis knocked down four triples to chip in 12 points with 4 assists.

Dragons head coach, Chris Mellor lamented the defeat, saying: “It was a disappointing performance we didn’t get any real foothold in the game and Nottingham were the better team on the night.”

Bradford fell to eighth place, at 5-8.

Box score.

Derby Trailblazers 74-87 Reading Rockets
Reading Rockets took a 74-87 road win over Derby, despite being without out captain Danny Carter, who was out with a back injury.

AJ Carr scored 13 of his 26 points in the third period, where Reading poured in 34 points to take an 18 point lead into the fourth. Reading are now 9-5 in third place, whilst Derby fell to 7-7.

Rockers were led by double doubles from both their American players as Trae Pemberton had 28 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists with AJ Carr adding 11 rebounds to his 26 points.

Malcolm Smith’s 22 points led Derby, with Tre-Shawn Wilford adding 17 points and 11 rebounds and Jake Wesselingh having 16 points.

Box score.

Manchester Magic 72-79 Leicester Warriors
Leicester Warriors improved to 5-9 in in 11th place with a 72-79 win over Manchester Magic, who continue to sit at the bottom of the table at 1-12.

Leicester were in control for the majority of the contest but Manchester refused to go down without a fight, momentarily taking the lead early in the fourth, before pulling to within one with less than two minutes left. However, Raphell Thomas-Edwards scored four points to seal the victory.

Thomas-Edwards continued his tear since joining the Warriors, finishing with 23 points, 15 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals, Pak Chingombe had 17 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists, while Martyn Gayle added 16 points.

Richard Bell had 23 points, 15 rebounds and 5 blocks for Manchester, whilst Andre Gayle had 13 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists.

“The game against Leicester was tight, both teams showed desire to compete,” Manchester Head Coach Simon Fisher commented.

“I thought we executed many elements of the game plan, however we all have lessons to learn to ensure we can get on the positive side of the result. After coming in mid-season the players and club have been excellent, we are all committed to continuing to improve individually and collectively.

Box score.

Barking Abbey Crusaders 63-65 Essex Leopards
A Sam Newman tip in with 4 seconds remaining gave Essex Leopards a 63-65 win over Barking Abbey.

Jonathan Brown’s potential overtime-forcing shot didn’t go down as Leopards escaped a furious late rally from Barking Abbey, who had trailed by as many as 16.

Newman and Lee Hodges led a balance attack with 14 points apiece, Newman adding 6 assists and Hodges 13 rebounds. Asante Sandiford finished with a 13 point, 12 rebound double-double, while Luke Mascall-Wright added nine points.

“After last weekend’s heartbreak it was great to have an end game situation go in our favour,” Essex Head Coach Tom Baker said.

“To pull off a win against Barking was a great way to start. Defensively we made adjustments which helped us.”

BA were led by 18 points, 6 rebounds and 5 steals from Ade Adebayo – including the shot to tie it up with 30 seconds left before Newman’s tip in, Robin Bedford had 13 points and Tautvydas Mieliauskas joined them in double figures with 10 points.

BA fell to 5-8 in tenth place with the loss.

Box score.

Thames Valley Cavaliers 84-82 Team Solent Kestrels
Thames Valley Cavaliers registered the result of the weekend with an 84-82 defeat of league leaders Solent Kestrels.

Despite Solent jumping out to a 10-0 lead to open the game, they could never shake Thames Valley, who used a 7-1 run in the fourth quarter to take control for the first time in the second half and thwart Solent the rest of the way, icing the game at the line.

Cavaliers registered their first win in three attempts this season against Solent, with all three games being close. Hakeem Sylla led the way for Thames Valley with 24 points and 16 rebounds, whilst Elliot Defreitas backed him up with 19 points and 17 rebounds. The duo combined for 15 of Thames Valley’s 21 offensive rebounds.

“We always knew this match was going be a tough battle,” Thames Valley Head Coach Bob Banks commented. “Solent are an outstanding team, that are well coached and has some of the best talent in the league. Having played them extremely close twice already this season we knew this was going to come down to effort and execution. We came out blocks as cold as I have seen us all season, shooting only 30% in the first quarter but we were getting makeable shots, so we felt that the shots would eventually fall as the game progressed.

“I was very pleased with the progress with our effort against Team Solent but was quite disappointed with our execution. We are beginning to learn what it takes to compete in D1 which is pleasing but we are world’s apart of where we need to be from an execution standpoint. I hope that we can continue to grow as the season progresses. It goes without saying that we are pleased to come away with a hard-earned win.”

Team Solent Kestrels were led by Herm Senor II’s 25 points, 9 rebounds and 4 steals whilst Nick Lewis chipped in 16 points and Travis Charles had a 14 point, 10 rebound double double.

Coach Matt Guymon was frustrated as his side dropped one on the road; “It’s a disappointing loss for us because we could have done more to limit their offensive rebounds & deep post catches, which ultimately was the deciding factor in the game.

“Credit to TVC, who were able to punish us in these areas and grind out the win. We will now turn our attention and preparations towards the Cup Final next Sunday.”

Box score.

Reading Rockets 67-84 Worthing Thunder
Worthing Thunder gained ground on league leaders Solent with a 67-84 victory over a short-handed Reading Rockets side.

With Thunder holding a slim five point lead at halftime, they shut down Reading in the fourth, holding them to just 8 points to pull out the win.

Jorge Ebanks had 26 points to lead Worthing, Zaire Taylor had 21 and Brendan Okoronkwo 15, with all three players adding 9 rebounds each.

Worthing Player Coach Josh Goddard commented : “After having a close first 3 quarters the guys stepped it up a notch on the defensive end limiting Reading to just 8 points in the final quarter whilst scoring 21 points of our own which blew the game wide open.

“I’m really enjoying the way we are playing as a team on both ends of the floor now and I believe that if we carry on improving at the rate we are, then we will be in the right place when it comes to crunch time.”

AJ Carr had another double double of 21 points and 10 rebounds for Reading, Trae Pemberton had 14 points, and David Chive had 10 points.

Box score.

Essex Leopards 108-76 Loughborough Riders
Essex moved up to ninth in the table with a 108-76 hammering of Loughborough Riders behind some impressive three point shooting.

Leopards went 20-of-32 from three point range, leading for the whole game against Riders with Sam Newman doing much of the early damage as he finished with six-from-10 three-point shooting on the way to a 22 point, 7 rebound, 6 assist night.

Luke Mascall-Wright went off for 36 points, going 8-of-9 from beyond the arc.

The Big Cats led 46-26 with three first half minutes remaining, only to see Riders halve that lead with a 12-2 run going into the locker room. But as Luke Mascall-Wright stepped up the visitors had no answer, and after the Big Cats had taken a 72-58 lead into the final break they killed off the game with 23 unanswered points with Mascall-Wright draining four triples.

“What a fantastic weekend for us” said Baker.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been in a game where a team has made 20 three-point shots. It was incredible. This was exactly the performance we needed to keep us going on our journey.

“It is going to be a interesting few weeks for us, we are locked in to chase down the teams above in the play-off positions. We will be taking it one game at a time.”

Tom Yome’s 13 points led five players into double figures for Loughborough, who fell to 8-4 with the defeat.

Box score.

NBL Division 2

Greenwich Titans 73-79 Westminster Warriors
Westminster Warriors grabbed a stranglehold on second place with a 73-79 win over bottom-place Greenwich Titans.

Justin Hitchman led Westminster with 21 points, player-coach Jon J Johnson added 16 with Juan Manning having 14 points.

Arturo Noha-Pascual had a game-high 22 points to pace Greenwich, whilst Jake Murphy contributed 18 points.

Westminster are now 9-2, whilst Greenwich fell to 1-7.

Sussex Bears 76-51 Ipswich
Sussex Bears secured a 76-51 victory over Ipswich.

Cordaris Townes continued an impressive campaign as he led all scorers with 25 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists, Tomas Seduikis added 20 points and 9 rebounds, whilst Joe Carter had 10 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists.

Meanwhile, Ipswich saw three players hit double figures as Colin Dockrell, Ethan Price and Jed Robinson contributed 10 points apiece in the loss.

Sussex Bears are 6-4 in fourth place, whilst Ipswich dropped to eighth at 4-7.

Box score.

East London All Stars 87-82 Derbyshire Arrows
Jonathan James hit the go-ahead three as East London All-Stars prevailed 87-82 over Derbyshire Arrows.

James knocked down a triple with 1:09 remaining to break a tie, before Brian Nguru held his nerve at the foul line for the final margin.

Kyle Gouveia had 33 points and 10 rebounds to lead East London, whilst Brian Nguru continues to prove to be a valuable addition with 22 points. James finished with 15.

Joseph Baugh led Derbyshire with 27 points and 8 rebounds, while George Brownell came off the bench to add 20 points.

East London are now 5-6 in fifth place, with Derbyshire sitting at 3-8 in ninth place.

Box score.

NBL Division 3

Sheffield Sabres 76-66 Sheffield Hallam Sharks
University of Chester 84-56 Birmingham Mets
Charnwood College Riders 78-68 Team Birmingham Elite
Team Derby Spartans 109-64 Team Sunderland
Stoke on Trent Knights 73-75 WLV Albion
Essex Blades 70-88 Bristol UWE Flyers II
Cardiff Met Archers 67-58 Barking Abbey
Mansfield Giants 70-96 Warwickshire Hawks
Derby Trailblazers II 96-77 Calderdale Explorers

NBL Division 4

Newcastle Eagles U23 67-65 Doncaster Danum Eagles
Stockport Falcomes 92-71 Cheshire Wire
Myerscough College II 78-71 Kingston Panthers
Canterbury Christ Church Saints 51-80 Canterbury Academy Crusaders
London Thunder Lewisham 68-72 Southwark Pride
Anglia Ruskin University 56-72 Chelmsford Lions
Huish Taunton Tigers 94-54 Cardiff Met Archers
Dorset Storm 77-55 Gloucester Saxons
Mansfield Giants 70-96 Warwickshire Hawks
Coventry Flames 60-70 Northants Thunder
Barrow Thorns 55-80 Tameside
Anglia Ruskin University 61-53 Hemel Storm II
Southwark Pride 76-56 London Thunder Lewisham

National Shield

Swindon Shock 67-80 University of Chester
Essex Blades 94-81 Charnwood College Riders
Team Derby Spartans 82-77 Bristol Hurricanes
WLV Albion 83-92 London BC Medelynas

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