There are no more unbeaten teams in the National Trophy after Tees Valley, Derby and Bradford all suffered defeats at the weekend.

 

86	81

Tees Valley Mohawks unbeaten start to the season was ended by an 86-81 loss at Hemel Storm on Saturday.

 

Storm made the better start to lead 47-41 at half-time, but found themselves down by one going into the final quarter. A 22-16 final quarter in their favour saw them come away with the win.

 

Hemel coach Dave Titmuss commented: "Our performance on Saturday definitely took us another step towards establishing ourselves at this level. Tees Valley has an athletic and competitive roster with two excellent imports in Ebanks and Kohn and I imagine they'll figure in the closing stages of competitions this season.

 

"Our excellent rebounding made up for some poor ball handling - although I credit coach Butler and Tees Valley's defence for forcing many of our mistakes - and we were able to close the game out with some solid play in the last two minutes."

 

Coach Butler commented: "[Hemel] is a hard place to go and pick up a win, but the game could have gone either way. A good sign for us tonight is that we were still in the game with 40 seconds left after not playing as good as we can do, but again credit goes to Hemel for putting us out of our stride but we will definatley learn from it and move forward."

 

Dru Spinks (23), Louis Sayers (19) and Bode Adeluola (18) led the wway for Hemel with Jorge Ebanks (28) and Jamie Kohn (21) both scoring over twenty points for Mohawks.

 

88	83

Leicester Warriors had a big second quarter to thank as they defeated Essex Leopards 88-83 at Braunstone Leisure Centre.

 

After the visitors had posted a five point gap in their favour in the first quarter, Warriors responded to take the second period 22-12 to reverse the margin and take control of the game.

 

The disqualification of Leopards player/coach Robert Youngblood for his second unsportsmanlike foul in the third quarter gave Warriors further momentum that they turned into a seven point lead after three quarters and an 11 point lead midway through the final period.

 

Ryan Lewis led all scorers for Leicester with 26 with Greg Hernandez's 22 leading the way for Leopards.

 

86	77

Bristol Flyers handed Derby Trailblazers their first loss of their National Trophy defence with an 86-77 win in Bristol on Saturday.

 

A 17-6 run early in the final quarter put Flyers on course for the win after a tight first three periods.

 

Tyrone Treasure was impressive for Bristol, making 13 of his 20 shots on the way to 29 points. Doug McLaughlin-Williams had 19 points and Enrique Garcia was one rebound short of a double-double with 16 points.

 

Nick Rose had 28 points for Derby, who were unable to overcome being outshot from the floor 54% to 39%.

 

90	64

Essex Leopards recovered from their loss on Saturday to post an emphatic 90-64 win over Worthing Thunder on Sunday to eliminate their opponents from Trophy contention.

 

At 0-4 Thunder can no longer make the knockout stages as they succumbed to an 18 point, 12 rebound double-double from Carl Josey as 5 Leopards scored in double figures.

 

An 11-0 run at the start of the second quarter established a lead for Leopards that was always going to be too much as they held Thunder to 35% shooting from the floor.

 

Hank Rivers has 17 points and 9 rebounds for Thunder, from whom Rhys Francis stated: "I feel that we didn't stick to doing what we do best and we came away from all the things that work and has worked for us so far this year."

 

"It’s all learning for us, we will come back stronger and we have another shot at Leopards in a few weeks so we have to get this game out of our heads and focus on the next game."

 

88	80
overtime

 

Derby Trailblazers overcame Reading Rockets 88-80 in overtime on Sunday in a thrilling tie.

 

Derby controlled much of regulation after a 27-18 second quarter gave them a significant advantage. They were up by 11 inside the final seven minutes before twelve straight Rocket points turned the game around.

 

There were eight lead changes inside the closing minutes with the teams trading baskets until the were tied at 72 with 36 seconds remaining. Reading turned the ball over on their final possession and Derby had a chance to win it that rimmed out.

 

In the extra period Tom Sherlock scored 5 of the first 7 points and contributed an assist to put his team 79-74 and with influential Reading players Danny Carter and Robbie Parker picking up their fifth fouls Derby were left to hold on for the win.

 

Sherlock contributed 21 points for Derby, bettered only by Martyn Gayle's 25. Andrew Hunter led Reading with 16 points.

 

67	69

Leicester Warriors made it a double win weekend with a 69-67 success at Brixton Topcats on Sunday.

 

The game looked in the bag at half-time for Warriors as they led 47-35, but Brixton produced a comeback in the third quarter to lead by one going into the last period.

 

The fourth quarter was a nervous affair, with only 21 points combined, and it was Warriors who came out on top by a narrow margin.

 

England junior international Elliot Sentance led the way for Leicester with 29 points, supported by 21 from Eugene Pettway.

 

77	87

Tees Valley Mohawks secured a spot in the quarter finals with an 87-77 win at Medway Park Crusaders on Sunday.

 

The game was only decided in the final quarter as Mohawks added to a four point lead with a 25-19 quarter that gave them the double-digit win.

 

Jorge Ebanks and Jamie Kohn both had 22 points for Tees Valley. Mannock Lual had 19 for Crusaders.

 

Mohawks coach Steve Butler commented: "DJ Glavan stepped up with a near double double of 9 points and 9 assists including 5 rebounds after a poor show by his standards on Saturday night. Kohn, Ebanks and Hanson all got in the top scoring box again but each game more and more players are contributing which is a good sign for me."

 

Crusaders coach Craig Nicol was less happy about the contest: "We had identified that we wanted to keep the scoreline low, but had too many simple defensive breakdowns which led to easy baskets for Tees Valley. We actually started the game pretty well especially in the first quarter, but we let Tees Valley get back into it through some simple transition baskets.

 

"We managed to stay with them right up until the last few minutes however Tees Valley deserved to win the game. We still have a few areas that we need to address in practice this week before two important games in the Trophy next weekend."

 

62	47

62	69

Team Northumbria picked up a pair of wins at the weekend to even their Trophy record at 3-3 and keep alive their hopes of a quarter final spot.

 

They put in an impressive defensive performance as they defeated Leeds Carnegie on Saturday 62-47, holding Leeds to single figure outputs in three of the four quarters. They still found themselves behing 41-39 going into the final quarter, but they saved the best for last as they held Carnegie to just 6 points in the final quarter, amassing 23 of their own to cruise to a comfortable win.

 

On Sunday they visited Westminster Warriors and returned to the north east with a 69-62 victory under their belts thanks mainly to the middle two quarters where they outscored their opponents 37-25.

 

55	86

Bristol Academy Flyers topped of an impressive weekend with an emphatic 86-55 victory at Bradford Dragons.

 

Bristol started fast to claim the opening quarter 23-8 and they never looked back as they handed their opponents their first loss in the Trophy this season and clinched their own spot in the quarter finals.

 

Doug McLaughlin-Williams hit seven three pointers on his way to a game high 22 points and Vance Silcott (pictured) led Bradford with 15.