Team Work Brings Crusaders A Win

After a steady and controlled all round team performance Coventry and Warwickshire Crusaders recorded their first and much deserved win of the season when they visited Colchester United on Saturday evening.

Up until now, this season has seen Crusaders play good positive basketball, however, until Saturday the win had eluded them.

A late arrival at Colchester Leisure World meant a shortened warm up, and a change in the opening line up for Crusaders.

The home side appeared to take full advantage and got the game started at a blistering pace with Simon Taylor and John Jowers sharing a run of 12 points for Colchester without reply.

With three minutes gone, Marcus Garvey called for a timeout to halt the Colchester run, after which Crusaders came back out on court and started afresh.

Kevin Richard opened up the scoring for Crusaders in what was to be his best Crusader performance to date and soon the visitors were chipping away at their host's lead.

Un-phased by the long range shooting from Colchester, Crusader applied a pressure defence that made United work hard for their points.

When Derrick Pope drained a long three to narrow the gap, the Colchester Coach called a time out to talk things over with his players.

Nevertheless, it was Crusaders that responded better to the break and a nice dunk from Richard got Crusaders off to a 2 – 9 run.  This saw them come back from the 12 point deficit at the beginning of the quarter to trail by just a single point 20 – 19 going into the final minute.

Having been held back by Larry Graves, Vic Booty scored his first points from the line to extend the United lead but his score was soon counteracted by Dip Donaldson who came in off the bench replacing Pope.

Again Colchester tried to forge ahead, but perimeter shooting from Graves saw the period close 25 – 24.

Scoring from the first possession of the second period Richard put Crusaders into a lead that they would not relinquish for the rest of the game.

Points were shared throughout the team, including the first from Craig Robertson since arriving in Coventry from Scotland. Crusaders looked comfortable as they moved into a 28 – 37 lead through their inventive play, good pressure defence and solid teamwork.

A steady rotation of players saw Marcus Garvey keeping the team looking fresh and effective at both ends of the court. Outscoring Colchester with 28 points to United's14 in the second quarter, Crusaders went into the interval 39 – 52.

Robertson got Crusaders third period underway from the perimeter in answer to a long two from Jowers for the home side. Despite Colchester stepping up their offence at the beginning of the quarter Crusaders refused to buckle.

The solid defensive routines that Crusaders had been working on in training ahead of the game, controlled any threat from Colchester, forcing the Essex lads to make errors and find themselves quickly in foul trouble.

In such a commanding position Crusaders were able to give valuable court time to the junior members of the squad. Scoring his first 2 points of the season saw Wes Hall assisting Crusaders into their comfortable 54 – 71 lead going into the final period.

Early in the final quarter Lee Muir found himself going deep inside the Colchester key for a well-executed jump shot to ensure that all Crusaders were now on the score sheet.

Maintaining their shape and good discipline through out the final period, Crusaders suppressed the opposition and closing the game down, removed any chances of a United come back in this their first game in their new venue. The game closed with Crusaders celebrating their first win 96 – 75.