Oxford Devils (34) 76

Crusaders (49) 87

Crusaders Do The Double Over The Devils

It was a nervous start, a scrappy finish, but some classy play mid-term saw Coventry and Warwickshire Crusaders complete this season's double over the Oxford Devils in Saturday night's all important game which Crusaders needed to win in their bid to hold on to their current fourth place in the league.

Crusaders fielded an unchanged team in an attempt to continue their current and exciting run of wins.

Nevertheless, the game didn't start as impressively as last week for Crusaders, although it has to be said that both teams appeared to find it hard to settle with a series of missed shots and turnovers from both sides.

The opening three minutes saw both Larry Graves and Alaster Spiers produce just a single basket each, while Oxford had produced "nil points".

Then as Damien Lyons scored the opening basket for the Devils, Crusaders reacted well and a nice hook shot from Spiers, opened up the Crusader attack as suddenly, but happily, Crusaders were unable to miss. 

Other than the final shot put up from the half way line by Larry Graves on the buzzer, Crusaders through Manny Sharland, Sam Spare and Spiers and Graves, scored from every floor shot attempted for the rest of the quarter, finishing the period 16 -23 ahead. 

The home side had the better opening in the second, with Carl Black, who had made it home from Iraq in time for the game, hitting a three to get Devils off to a flying start and narrow the gap.  

Crusaders Spare, who had checked into the game inside the final three minutes of the first quarter converted his two free throws having been fouled by Pem Bristol to redress the balance, before, as in the first period both sides struggled to hit the target.

Again it was Spare who produced the points for Crusaders, this time in reply to Oxford's Captain Keith Kelly who had come more alive in this second period.

When George Vergoulous produced his first points of the night from long range, Crusaders again responded with fine form as Skipper Derrick Pope produced his first points of the night, matching Vergoulous from long range.

With five minutes left In the first half, and the score at 24 - 30, Coach Marcus Garvey sent Spiers back into the fray alongside Wes Hall and Lee Muir.

There were a couple of good moves from the youngsters including a nice basket from Wes Hall assisted by Lee Muir, but neither looked as composed as in their previous outings and were replaced by the more experienced Dip Donaldson and Sharland, in Crusaders bid to put some more space between themselves and their hosts before half time.

That was something that Spiers soon set about doing, as the other Crusaders effectively fed the ball into the on-form Spiers, who was to produce 11 personal points inside the closing four minutes, including an impressive dunk on the buzzer to bring his own tally to 20 points for the first half and see the Crusader's lead stretch to 34 - 49 at the half time interval. 

Crusaders totally dominated the start of the third. A 4 - 17 run saw Crusaders rapidly chalk up a healthy 26 point lead, as with good shot selection and oppressive defence the opening five minutes looked like "The Valentines Day Massacre" of the Devils 66 – 40. 

Twice, quick and impressive responses from Graves saw Crusaders American point guard, pick up the rebound from missed Crusader free throws and make the put back to add more points to his ever increasing season's point's total. 

Devils started to pick themselves up in the closing five minutes of this third quarter, when Carl Black hit his second three pointer of the game moments before Jack Russell hit his third, injecting life back into the Oxford supporters. By then, however, Crusaders already had victory in their sights as the third period closed 54 - 76 in their favour.

When Spiers sat down at the end of the third having completed his night’s work with 36 points no one can be blamed for repeating once again what an important signing he has been to this Crusader season.

The final quarter got underway with Spare coming back in to replace Spiers. 

Spare who signed for Crusaders at the start of this season, might not get high on the score sheet each week but his defensive play has been invaluable to Crusaders during this campaign, and would be tested to the full during this final period. 

With the exception of Graves who played for the opening five minutes of the fourth quarter, the Crusader bench played out the game to the final buzzer. 

However, inconsistency, hurried shots and indeed poor shot selection, saw a marked contrast to their final quarter against Colchester last weekend when they held their ground. 

This week Oxford punished them dearly for their mistakes. Four times they hit from beyond the (three point) arc to reduce Crusaders 22 point advantage to 11. 

Crusader's starters watching from the sidelines were ready to come back if victory looked threatened, but both Derrick Pope and Marcus Garvey felt the need to keep the second string out on court, as an important learning curve. Teams like Oxford don't give up and therefore consistency is an important factor despite a 22 point advantage. 

After the game Crusader Coach Derrick Pope was pleased with the win but appeared very disappointed that the bench couldn't keep up the pressure as they had done last week.

Crusaders return home to the Coventry Sports Centre on Saturday next weekend with a 7:30 pm tip-off when they welcome the challenge of second placed NW London in what promises to be an exciting contest.                                               

Crusader Scorers

Alaster Spiers 36, Larry Graves 17, Manny Sharland 9, Sam Spare 8, Derrick Pope 7, Craig Robertson 4, Wes Hall 4, Ed Baynes Clarke 2                

Oxford Scorers

Jack Russell 17, Carl Black 16, Keith Kelly 14, Pem Bristol 9, Damien Lyons 7, Dan Woodbridge 7, George Vergoulous 6