Sheffield Saints vs Westminster Warriors

Sureshot Cup quarter final
All Saints 15th January 2012 , 3.30 pm

Saints 12 15 13 5 45
Warriors 12 4 14 11 41

Basketball can be a strange game at times and this seemed to be one of those strange games, but the result was right in the end.

Eddy, Josh, Marcus ConnorD and Kenneth took to the court and it wasn’t until the 2nd minute that Warriors took the lead. Marcus bagged a brace to put Saints in command. Things started to go the home team’s way with Warriors giving away fouls. Kenneth and Josh took points from the line and Marcus helped himself to another basket. George chipped in and after 7 minutes a low scoring 10-5 was in the Saints favour. However a rally from the Warriors was only answered by a basket from Kenneth and the first quarter was shared 12 a piece.

In quarter 2 the game became deadlocked. Josh and Marko put 4 on for the Saints who also had 4 points and the game remained at 16 all into the 7th minute. Daniel and Tyler were rotated in to try and help out before luckily the Saints managed to unlock the Warriors defence. This was from two great treys from David (we forgive your celebrations) a trey from Eddy and a basket from Kenneth. This 11-0 run at the end of the Q would prove telling.

Then the game became strange. In the first 6 minutes of quarter 3 Saints got into foul trouble very early and the opposition became camped out at the free throw line. They scored a 9 from a potential 14 in this period (2 baskets in there for good measure) the Saints reply to this was2 from Kenneth. This left the Saints only 4 in front. Marcus dug deep and drew fouls and got points. Again the Saints had to work hard with Kenneth and David scoring. A trey from Eddy and a basket from George established a 10 point lead at the end of the Q but there were a few worried faces.

There was good reason to be worried as things carried on downwards. Three points from Marcus was the only score for the Saints in the first 9 minutes. Meanwhile Warriors were chipping away at the lead. A potential upset could have been on the cards. ConnorD made a late return to the match to try and shore up the leaking defence before Eddy got one from two to make the task slightly harder for them. It wasn’t until Kenneth got his one from two right at the end that Warriors ran out of time and the Saints ran out as victors, phew.

Some feel the game should have been put to bed earlier but Warriors did show good D. At the end of the day it was the win that was important as after all it is a cup match.

Well done to all the lads, let’s hope for a home draw.

Team and scorers

Marcus Welsh (12), Kenneth Nwose (10), David Frost (10), George Naylor (4), Eddy Brownell (4), Josh Edwards (3), Marko Backovic (2), Connor Dixon, Daniel Jenkinson, Tyler Gayle, Montell Gordon-DNP, Matteo Murriero-DNP