A flurry of long range shots got the visitors off the mark on Saturday night at the Coventry Sports Centre, leaving Coventry and Warwickshire Crusaders playing catch up in what was always going to be a hard fought game with Worcester Wolves.

The game was the first of the first round pool matches of the new Patrons Cup Competition.

Nevertheless catch up they did and a lively, and spirited performance from Crusaders again gave the Coventry fans much to get excited about.

If Wolves thought they were going to run away with the game as they swiftly forged ahead to build up a 12 point lead in the opening five minutes they were very much mistaken.

However, supporters could be excused for worrying that the score line could prove embarrassing as at the end of the first, Crusaders trailed 19 – 34.  

Chiverton and Shaw appeared to score at will for Wolves, while only Captain and Coach Derrick Pope had been able to make any impression on the Worcester basket with 13 personal points for Crusaders.

Even so, by the end of the second period, Crusaders had stopped the slide, preventing Wolves from building on their lead as the first half ended 41 – 54. 

The second quarter saw a more settled performance from new signing Sam Spare scoring his first Crusader points and some excellent ball movement around the court from Larry Graves.

In the opening seconds of the third quarter Pope left the court for treatment to his hand.

He was quickly replaced by Dip Donaldson, whose 2 point basket was nicely sandwiched between two baskets from Ed Baynes Clarke to narrow the gap.

Pope tested out the hand immediately on his return draining a long three pointer to bring the Crusaders to within reach of the Wolves tally, who in this third minute were themselves still looking for their first points of the half 52 – 54.

Chiverton eventually got the visitors off the mark going inside to squeeze out the tightened Crusader defense.

Again Worcester tried to break away through Shaw and Chiverton.  

They were stopped in their tracks by a pair of baskets from Kevin Richard, Crusader's second American who had come awake in this second half.

Moments later Sam Spare quietened down the Worcester supporters as he brought the scores level and his Coach Derrick Pope fired up the Crusader crowd with his jump shot that put Crusaders ahead for the first time 62 – 60.

Crusaders had worked hard to get themselves back into the game and despite Wolves coming back at them with a three pointer from former Crusader Skipper Rick Solvason, the home side kept in touch and going into the last minute of the quarter had a tentative 1 point lead 67 – 66.

However, despite Crusaders outscoring Worcester by 26 points to 17 in the third, Wayne Robinson who had got the game underway from long range, found his shooting form again in the dying seconds, and supported by a quick basket from Shaw, Wolves were ahead 67 – 71 going into the final period.

Crusaders looked confident at the beginning of the fourth as Ed Baynes Clarke open up the scoring and Pope again brought Crusaders level at 71 a piece.

Nevertheless, as Solvason rediscovered his long range shooting form, he made four from four from the perimeter, and Crusaders were suddenly trailing by 10 points 73 – 83 with six minutes left to play.

Baynes Clarke brought the gap back to single figures as a time out was called by Coventry, and coming back on to court it was a determined Crusaders refusing to lay down and again laying down the gauntlet by outscoring their visitors 16 – 9 until again a single basket separated the sides 89 – 92.

With the clock displaying 2.14 seconds left in the game, the teams returned to their benches for another time out.

Almost immediately Baynes Clarke was called for the first of four very harsh fouls which would see him exit the game just a minute later and while Crusaders finished the game with a 75% shooting from the floor, Wolves stole the win as 7 of their last 9 points came from the line as they took the victory 95 – 101.

As with last week’s narrow defeat against Westminster, Crusader fans were encouraged by this Crusader performance, and took comfort in knowing that Worcester are not as unbeatable as their 51 point win last week would have the rest of the league believe.

Speaking after the game Both Crusader Owner Dip Donaldson and Crusader Coach Derrick Pope were both unfazed by this week’s defeat.

Pope admitted that,

"It all feels good but we are just not getting the win yet.......... we need to work on getting the key plays at key times.......... there are a couple of players who need to work on their consistency and I will be discussing that with them......... before the game I felt good and thought that the players had grasped what I was trying to put across to them."

Crusaders are on the road now for their next three games and start their National Cup campaign next Saturday when they travel down to Reading to take on Division 1 Reading Rockets at the Rivermead Leisure Centre.

Crusader Scorers	Worcester Scorers
Pope 33	Chiverton 27
Graves 17	Shaw 20
Richard 15	Solvason 17
Baynes Clarke 12	Robinson 12
Spare 8	Jones 12
Donaldson 6	Cooprider 9
Sharland 4	Somerville 4

 

Other Patron Cup Results

Westminster Warriors 91 – 87 Northampton Neptune's Group 4

Oxford Devils 109 – 88 Hull Stingers Group 2