Solent Kestrels cap dominant season with another NBL D1 playoffs title

By Bradley Gains on April 24, 2022

Image credit: BE / Luke Simcock

Solent Kestrels completed a season treble after defeating Hemel Storm in an exciting NBL D1 playoffs final at the NBPC, in Manchester.

Cole Gentry’s layup inside the final minute proved to be the difference to secure a 71-69 triumph for the Kestrels as they backed up their league and National Cup titles.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Hoopsfix (@hoopsfix)

The American guard was named Finals MVP to go with the league MVP award after finishing with 19 points with four rebounds and four assists.

“Really happy for the club, the programme, our teams this weekend have been in some very close games so to finish with a win is amazing,” Solent Head Coach Matt Guymon said.

“The great thing about our group is I don’t need to say a lot, we have such a mature, composed group. We knew Hemel are one of the best offensive teams in the league, they are well coached, they’ve got scoring firepower, so it was just a case of our guys holding their composure down the stretch, which they did.”

Box score.

Taylor Johnson top scored for the Storm with 23 points along with eight rebounds and seven assists with Greg Poleon posting a double-double of 22 points and 14 rebounds.

Do you like our work?

We have a tiny favour to ask. In 2018 we set out to make Hoopsfix sustainable by building our relationship directly with our readers. Up until now, Hoopsfix has been creating editorials, videos and podcasts to provide sorely missing coverage of the British game and its distinct culture and community.

We have funded Hoopsfix with our freelance work creating basketball media, but sadly that means not only does it fall behind our client’s priorities, but some of those clients are the same organisations we need to report objectively on putting us in a conflicted position.

We want to devote more time to our mission of helping British basketball reach its potential, and produce even more content for the basketball community by making Hoopsfix a sustainable 100% independent business funded directly by our readers through Patreon.

If everyone who enjoys our content chose to support us, our future would be much more secure. For as little as $3 per month, you can support Hoopsfix – and it only takes a minute.

We are tremendously honoured and humbled to have a community of people who value what we do, and we look forward to being at the forefront of the British game as it continues to evolve.

Support Hoopsfix