Sheffield Arrows opened their home league campaign with a 122-100 victory (view stats) over the Tees Valley Mohawks in a game that turned into a points bonanza.

 

Arrows' Sebastian Chitagu led all scorers in the game with 38 points, well supported by Ben Murray 29 and Semi Eboigbe 22. All three players also had double-digits in rebounds with Chitagu pulling down 12, Murray 10 and Eboigbe 16.

 

Sheffield started sluggishly trailing 18-10 in the early going as the Mohawks opened strongly led by Steve Leven and Brian McCotter. However, Arrows were able to find their own scoring touch through Chitagu and Murray as the teams exchanged points throughout the quarter with the Arrows holding a slender 28-27 advantage.

 

Chris Mason had lifted the Arrows intensity in defence but he was struck by injury and had to leave as the baskets continued to be plentiful at both ends as the Arrows hit the half ahead 61-54.

 

This was a match between two teams looking for their first victory in the league and this had shown in some of the ragged play at this point. The hosts continued to press after the interval as the Arrows slowly began to edge further ahead, closing the third quarter further leading 87-74.

 

The fourth quarter, far from being a defensive battle, saw both sides pour forward in attack but it was the Arrows through Eboigbe who began to win the battle closer to the basket and this proved decisive as Arrows got off the mark.

 

Former Great Britain international Leven finished with 33, while Brian McCotter added 20 and Ryan McQueen 18.

 

Taunton Tigers continued their good start to the season with an 87-82 home victory against Coventry Crusaders.

 

After being 6-0 down in the opening minute, two successive fade-away jump shots mid-way through the opening session by Coventry's Stephen Danso followed by a finger-roll showed that he was likely to be a major threat to the home side. 

 

However, the early play was dominated by Tigers' Chris Page in getting 15 of his 31 game-high points in the first quarter. Crusaders pulled back to within two following an 8-2 run late in the first session, but Tigers increased their intensity in the final minute to close the quarter 26-17 ahead.

 

The second period saw the visitor's captain John Olinger make his presence felt. Making all three of his shots from the line after being fouled on the perimeter with two minutes remaining, he immediately drained another from outside to make his quarter tally nine, but it was Tigers who went into the locker room with a 44-36 lead.

 

Crusaders came back strongly in the second half as they seized the opportunity after some early unforced errors by the Tigers and increased their pressure on the home side and forced even more turnovers. A 10-2 run mid-way through the quarter saw the visitors take a five point lead with two third period minutes remaining and went into the final break 63-59 ahead.

 

Early in the final period Taunton fought back to level the scores at 65 only to find themselves again trailing after Hudson immediately sank a long ranger. The steadying influence of Yabsley and Adam Rickwood in the next three minutes produced an 11-2 run and enabled Tigers to regain the lead.

 

Despite some determined play in the final minute by the ever-present Olinger - in which he scored two inside and added one from outside the arc making his tally 10 points in the final session - Tigers remained calm and closed out the game.

 

"We weathered a storm tonight,"said Tigers' coach Tom Kambouris after the game. "This was the type of game we would have struggled to grind-out a victory last season. However, we did that today.    

 

"This was another character-step forward for our team."

 

Page finished with 31 points, with Rickwood and Joe Andrews each adding 13. Olinger led Crusaders with 29, with Dan Taylor finishing on 13 and Danso on 12.