By Adam Manning:
CRUSADERS power forward
Matt Smith was encouraged by his team mates’ grittiness in the 81-92
defeat to Manchester Magic last Saturday, which saw Crusaders record
their best fourth quarter scoring tally since the 34 point rally at
Derby back in November.
On seventeen occasions
this season Coventry have failed to win a game from a losing half-time
position, yet a 28 point effort from Scott Neely’s side in the fourth
against Manchester saw them just two points away from recovering an
eighteen minute long deficit with less than two minutes to go at 79-81.
Crusaders had been
trailing by no more than ten points from the start of the second half as
both teams cancelled each other out, with Magic finding their three
point range through forward David Watts and captain Stefan Gill; while
Crusaders had Ryann Samuel elegantly making his way to the basket for
his highest every scoring tally of 17 to supplement John Olinger’s
versatile field goals involving slam dunks, lay ups and his three point
trade mark.
Despite Magic going on an
11 point run in the last minute as Crusaders went for broke, Smith was
happy with the improvement of defensive alertness which he says was
helped by the mentality of the team.
“Compared to the last
couple of games where we tended to fade off in the third quarter,
tonight we were able to grow stronger in the fourth quarter” he said.
“We did some things well defensively and got to the free throw line and
I think our mentality was better in this game”.
“Even going into half-time
I could see the guys were more pumped up, and we felt like we could beat
this team, which we should feel like every game. In this league any team
can beat any team on any given night, and in the past when we’ve gone
down the team’s energy does down and we can’t stick it out to the end. I
think in this game we kept our heads up and believed we could win, but
it’s got to be for forty minutes”.
He reflected further,
adding: “Manchester were clued up more with their offense in the second
half and they had a lot more better screens I would say, and some people
were getting open a little bit easier and were just knocking down some
shots as well. They were hitting us form deep, and that was hurting us,
especially where we didn’t go down and score and they were just hitting
shots.”
Smith revealed that some
composed advice from head coach Neely gave the side some guidance in
attempts to overturn the prolonged yet reachable deficit, saying:
“We had to make a stop
defensively in order to make a run offensively. When you’re down you
tend to think ‘we have to score’, but in reality it has to come from
defensive stops. We were trying to focus on the defensive end and
getting those rebounds and then making the shot offensively, so he was
just trying to keep our heads up.”
And although Crusaders are
six points adrift of eighth spot, the last play-off place, with just
five games left, Smith refused to change this season’s target and
appealed to fans to keep the faith:
“If the teams that are
ahead of us lose three games in a row just like Manchester did, and then
if we were to win three or four then anything can happen”.
Next up for Coventry is a trip up to lowly rivals
Sheffield Arrows on Saturday 6th March, where Smith & co will
be looking to widen their current four point advantage over Arrows and
narrow the gap on eighth place to four points.
Crusaders next home match is on the 21st
March when they face
Leeds Carnegie, tip-off is 4.00pm at the
Coventry Sports Centre.
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