The Durham Wildcats stayed unbeaten at the top of EBL Division Two, but not before more than a few scares at Edmonton, as they came from behind to snatch victory in the final quarter.

 

Edmonton, unbeaten on their home court this season, began the game with a flourish as they held their visitors scoreless for a full four minutes racing into a 10-0 lead, with Leon Bernard contributing seven.

 

It took just one minute, though, for the Wildcats to respond, as captain Mark Elderkin found room to launch two threes, brother Paul hit two from the line, and Scott Morton added a basket, to tie the scores at ten apiece.

 

As they traded baskets, neither side could break away during the remainder of the quarter and at the first break the home side held a slender two point advantage.

 

Durham began the second quarter more positively with another Mark Elderkin trey, plus one of two from the stripe by Anthony Trigg, giving them the lead for the first time, 21-19.

 

It proved short lived, however, as Tayo Odulaja contributed five points (a three and a two) in a burst that put the home side back ahead by five at the mid-point of the period. The Storm continued to edge away and with the Wildcats struggling with basics, Bernard contributed another seven points as the hosts pulled out a 35-26 advantage.

 

With the signs looking ominous, the Wildcats recovered to score the last six points of the half, reducing the margin to just three, but Edmonton went into the locker room as clearly the better team thus far.

 

Durham struck first on the restart through Scott Morton, but the Storm re-established their grasp on the game with seven unanswered, to lead 42-34. Again the Wildcats refused to let them break away, but the home side continued to look the better team as they held a four point advantage, 48-44, going into the final period.

 

In particular, the home side were doing an excellent job of keeping the visitors' more prolific scorers quiet, as Paul Elderkin had just seven points - a three and four from the line, all in the first quarter.

 

Notis Chalkidis opened the scoring in the final stanza, pulling the Wildcats to within two and a trey plus a basket for Paul Elderkin gave the visitors the lead for the first time since the second minute of the second quarter, 48-51. Still neither side could establish total dominance, and they traded baskets to 57-57 in the eighth minute, setting up a thrilling finale.

 

Increased defensive pressure by Durham led to a breakaway for Paul Elderkin and when that was followed by a tough baseline move by the ever-dependable Michael Davies, they had their biggest lead yet, at 61-57. The Wildcats were relying on their defence to turn the game and they had succeeded in keeping Bernard relatively quite, but suddenly he struck, and it was still anybody's game at 59-61 going into the final minute.

 

Edmonton knew that with time ticking away they must prevent the Wildcats from scoring, but with their defence smothering both Elderkins and Morton, Davies was left free, and he obliged with a huge three to give the league leaders some breathing space at 64-59.

 

Still the home side kept coming and Odulaja kept them in touch, but Paul Elderkin was quickly fouled to stop the clock. Paul kept calm at the stripe to sink both foul shots restoring the two-score cushion.

 

Odulaja pulled one back from the line, but time was now running out and Paul Elderkin iced the win with one from two of his own, taking his tally for the match to a game-high 21.

 

Though pleased with the victory and the determination of his team down the stretch, coach Dave Elderkin was less than impressed with their overall performance.

 

"Edmonton played well and were well worth their lead for most of the game," he said. "However, we were flat, and didn't play consistently enough. It certainly wasn't our best offensive performance.

 

"We really must make sure that we raise our game every time we take the court, because every team wants to be the first to beat us in this division.

 

"We've got a weekend off next week, but then we finish 2009 with the toughest double-header imaginable - away games at our two closest challengers, Westminster and Brixton, on successive days.

 

"That's two games we really do need to step up for."  

 

Morton finished with 14 for Wildcats with Mark Elderkin and Davis adding 11. Former London United pair Leon Bernard (18) and Tayo Odulaja (16) led Storm, while ex-Milton Keynes Lion Pierre Henry-Fontaine chipped in with 13.

 

 

 

Dec 5 2009	Team Northumbria	71	v	84	Mansfield Giants Game Stats
Dec 5 2009	Edmonton Storm	62	v	67	Durham Wildcats
Dec 5 2009	Westminster Warriors	86	v	78	Plymouth Marjon Game Stats
Dec 6 2009	Brixton Topcats	91	v	89	Birmingham A's