By James Bourne
COVENTRY Crusaders head coach Scott Neely said that he
felt confident about his team’s run-in despite admitting that there was
no hope of making the playoffs this year.
Neely said: “I like the current squad we have, I like
the players, it’s really looking at ‘how can we finish strong?’ from a
mental standpoint, as we’re not making the playoffs.
“We beat Leicester here at home. They’re a tough team.
Let’s try and go to their place and get an upset, then go down to
Bristol, and again they’re playing well in the second half of the
season, so two tough games.
Neely also had praise for Leeds Carnegie after the
64-96 result at the Sports Centre, saying of his opponents: “The thing
about them is that they really know who they are when it comes to their
main guys.
“Fenyn’s the leading rebounder and the
leading scorer in the league, but they’re obviously well drilled and
they’ve had a lot of matches under their belt with the BUCS [British
Universities and Colleges Sport] and the Division One.”
Neely had noted the amount of missed shots by the team
when in good positions, saying: “I told the guys at half time that with
some of the shots, they were getting offensive boards, but they were
rushing, instead of taking their time, trying to work them and maybe
draw the foul.
“That comes from something of a mentality of ‘we’re
down’; we really want to try and grab it and come back, and it doesn’t
usually work that way.
“Tonight there were stints. I’m seeing ball movement
and different things sharper than what we had earlier in the year, and
so we’re further along, we just haven’t shown a lot of wins.”
Carnegie head coach Matthew Newby strove to “take each
game as it comes” after seeing his side complete their double header
weekend with two wins.
Newby said: “We’re not aiming to blow teams out. We’ve
been shooting the ball quite well recently, and hopefully the boys will
stay focused.
“We want to be at the top of the domestic game. We
recruit from everywhere, and we want the best basketball players.”
Regarding Crusaders, Newby added: “They missed him [Olinger] tonight. He
offers composure and control. Steve Danso’s an excellent athlete, and
has a strong sense of getting to the basket. He’s got all the tools to
be one of the best players in this league if he chooses to.”
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