[01 FEB 10] CRUSADER NEWS

 U16's Latest News

By James Bourne 

COVENTRY Crusaders’ Under 16 boys fell to a 63-88 loss at home to Derby Trailblazers, but it was a spirited performance against the team at the top of the Midlands Conference.

The Blazers – who now have a 12-2 record in the league – were probably expecting an easy run out given their two previous wins against the Crusaders this term.

But the home side remained competitive throughout and gave the league leaders something to think about in a tight first quarter.

The Crusaders took an early 6-4 lead thanks to a Sam Cardwell effort from far left, which was increased when Jason Walker used his strength well to pivot and shoot.

But the visitors remained a threat, thanks in no small part to the dangerous Joe Lynch, who scored 38 points in the match, and whose agile and direct runs caused chaos for the Crusaders defence all game.

After a timeout, Lynch’s fine ball helped set up an easy score for 13-14, and despite good work from Billy Paronia in attack, the visitors went into the second 17-20 up.

Coventry grabbed the lead for a time in the second quarter, thanks to scores from skipper Luke Johnson, Paronia and Cardwell, but Derby soon regained the initiative, and a swift eight-point run saw them ahead at 23-29.

The Crusaders remained in touch thanks to a good spell from Paronia, whereby he laid up and slotted two free throws in quick succession to make it 30-36.

But the Trailblazers ran away towards the end of the quarter. Joe Lynch hit four scores in succession to make the half time score a lopsided 33-50, which seemed unfair given the effort that the Crusaders had put in.

Things didn’t get any better in the third quarter, whereby a 14-point run from the visitors made the scoreline 33-64.

However, the resultant timeout seemed to help focus the Crusaders and scores from Johnson and Cardwell among others made it 45-71 going into the final ten minutes.

A much better performance from the Crusaders in the final ten helped them win the quarter 18-17. Luke Johnson hit six in this period, including a cool lay-up to make it 54-76.

The Trailblazers weren’t as potent an attacking threat as in previous quarters, but they slotted home five out of six free throw opportunities, and two quick scores in the final minute helped extend the score to 63-88 and extend their lead at the top of the table.

Head coach Marcus Garvey spoke of how he thought the team improved in the second half of the match, as well as what his young squad needs to do to improve further.

Garvey said: “We have settled into a routine of stepping up when it is time to play at certain occasions in the game but we’re not consistent throughout the whole game.

“They need to realise that if you make a mistake, then you learn from it. I think we did that in the second half, we moved the basketball around a lot better.

“However with fouling, a few key guys getting fouled meant that they were out of the game a few times, for longer than they needed to be.”

                               

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