It was a good weekend for the road teams with 5 away wins in the 7 VCARS.co.uk Division 1 games on Saturday.

 

81	71

Medway Park Crusaders overcame an atrocious start defensively to defeat Wesminter Warriors 81-71 on Saturday.

 

After allowing Warriors to amass 34 points in the opening quarter, Crusaders held them to just 37 points combined in the final three quarters to come from behind and record the win.

 

Warriors shot 67% from the floor in the opening quarter and added a trio of three point plays as Crusaders committed 7 turnovers in the period.

 

Medway held Westminster to less than 30% shooting in the remainder of the contest as they scored the first eight points of the second quarter and ended the half down just eight. A 9-0 run in the third period had Crusaders down by just two and they took their first lead since the opening moments on a three by Cole Hobin late in the third that made the score 54-53.

 

A James Harris three had Crusaders up by 9 in the final five minutes, but Warriors hit back with a 10-2 run capped by Jonathan Johnson scoring off his own miss. However, these were Warriors final points of the game as they committed a pair of turnovers in the closing moments.

 

Mannock Laul led Medway with 25 points and a massive 22 rebounds and came in for praise from coach Craig Nicol: "Obviously we did not start the game the way we had intended. Westminster came out with a point to prove and made it very difficult for us. I am very pleased however with how we responded to being down by more then 20 in the first quarter.

 

"The guys did well to rally together to battle for stops to get back into the game. Manock Lual was particularly impressive against Westminster, not only was he guarding their main threat Yannick [Bulambwe], he managed to set a club record of 22 rebounds and score 25 points on 15 shots. We also managed to get our whole starting 5 into double figures in scoring and had an important performance from Darrel Bethune off the bench so offensively we looked pretty decent."

 

83	102

Essex Leopards produced an impressive shooting display to return from Worthing Thunder with a 102-83 win.

 

Worthing were on form in the first quarter as they scored on six consecutive offenses to take a 31-21 lead inside the first eight minutes of the game.

 

Leopards went 6 of 9 from downtown and 9 of 10 from the free throw line in the second quarter as they poured in an incredible 37 points in the quarter to take a 61-49 half-time lead.

 

Their shooting cooled off in the second half, but they stretched their lead to as many as 21 in the third quarter and never led by less than 15 in the final period.

 

Carl Josey scored 27 points on just 10 field goal and 6 free throw attempts and added in 7 rebounds for good measure despite playing only 25 minutes and not scoring after half-time. Simon Cummings (pictured) and Taner Adu both had 17 points for Leopards. Hank Rivers led Worthing with 18 points and 10 rebounds.

 

76	68

Bradford Dragons escaped with a 76-68 home win against Brixton Topcats on Saturday.

 

Their balanced scoring effort (five players in double figures) was enough to overcome a big night from Papa Demba-Kasse who had 19 points and 15 boards.

 

The result was still in doubt in the final quarter, but Dragons took the period 22-17 to open their VCARS.co.uk Division 1 season with a win.

 

Coach Chris Mellor was pleased with the result: "It's a win and a good start to the season. It was close throughout and I was happy again with the way we took control just at the right time. Demba-Kasse and [Vytenis] Petkus caused us some problems and we got in some foul trouble but we showed good composure down the stretch."

 

60	72

Bristol Flyers started their league season with a 72-60 win at Leicester Warriors.

 

Flyers found themselves down 16-9 after the opening quarter, but controlled the middle two quarters, taking them 49-29 to move into a comfortable lead.

 

Enrique Garcia and Doug McLaughlin-Williams led Bristol with 15 points each, which was matched by Leicester's Sam O'Shea.

 

Flyers coach Andreas Kapoulas was happy with the performance: "Leicester are a tough opponent especially at home and despite going down early our team did a great job to remain concentrated. We had very good contribution from the bench and with some tactical adjustments we were able to control the tempo of the game.

 

"I was particularly pleased with our players defensive efforts as we managed to keep Pettway and Sentance to single digits. They are both very talented scorers and in the Trophy competition they have been both averaging over 15 per game. It has been a very positive start to our league campaign."

 

60	72

Hemel Storm were defeated at home 72-60 by Reading Rockets on Saturday.

 

Hemel charged into an 11-4 lead, but Reading grabbed the momentum and by half-time had scored 36 of the last 51 points to lead 40-26.

 

Storm narrowly won the second half, but never really threatened to overcome the deficit. New signing Tomas Janusauskas led Reading with 17 points and Luke Nelson added 15. Tom Adorian top scored for Hemel with 19 points and Bode Adeluola (pictured) added 10.

 

Hemel coach Dave Titmuss commented: "I really like Reading's roster but I thought we competed extremely well against them which at our stage of development as a Club and a programme is the first building block of success and all I can ask of my guys.

 

"We out-rebounded them which considering the difference in size was a fantastic effort by us, and we turned them over 18 times to our 13. But we just didn’t make good use of the extra possessions especially our 3 point shooting when despite for the most part getting good separation we only hit three from 22 attempts which hurt us. I think young Luke Nelson for them was the difference maker for them in the last quarter."

 

72	84

Tees Valley Mohawks carried over their National Trophy form into the start of the VCARS.co.uk Division 1 season as they won 84-72 at Derby Trailblazers.

 

Mohawks dominated the opening three quarters to lead 68-43 at the start of the final period and were able to cruise through the last ten minutes on their way to a comfortable win.

 

Mohawks had five players in double figures, led by Jorge Ebanks on 21 and David Hansen with 17. Martyn Gayle had 17 for Trailblazers, who were outshot 45% to 36%.

 

Derby assistant coach Steve Baxter was disappointed with the performance: "The game against Tees Valley was very disappointing, more so for our performance than the actual loss. As a coaching team we can accept losing, because every team loses games, but to play like we did for the middle part of the game was unacceptable.

 

"I know we conceded 84 points, but it was the offensive end of the game that concerned me most. We shot the ball woefully and turned the ball over 25 times, which provided Tees Valley with far too many fast break opportunities. We also missed 19 free throws, something I cannot recall us ever doing in the past."

 

57	68

Leeds Carnegie produced an impressive second half display to return from Team Northumbria with a 68-57 win.

 

Northumbria looked to have taken control with a 24-12 second period that put them 38-27 in front at the half, but Leeds responded to hold them to just five points in the third period and 14 in the fourth.

 

All nine Leeds players that took to the court got on the scoresheet, led by 13 from David Ajumobi. Ivan Emanuely was the game's top scorer with 20.