[12 NOV 10] CRUSADER NEWS

Crusaders win 90-81 at Leicester

Edited by Adam Manning, Crusaders Press Officer.

Coventry Crusaders overcame an 18 point deficit at Leicester Warriors last Saturday to get sweet revenge in an 81-90 away victory, their first league win of the season 

Crusaders had hosted Leicester seven days earlier in the National Cup at the North Solihull Sports Centre where they were edged out 80-82 by Leicester after Payne’s men went on a late rally of 39 points in the fourth.

Coventry’s bench was the difference in this latest game as they out-scored Leicester 37-28, and were patient as they ran their offence even when down by 18.

Jack McDonald and Roy Owen had methodically dissected the Leicester defence to make some eyebrow raising assists, regularly finding Siman Stewart and Damilola Fakunle.

The Crusaders head coach paid tribute to the way his side came back from such a large deficit in a game so early on in the season.

“We have a good group of guys with great confidence and ability” said Payne. “When we went down 18, we had to stay focused and committed to defence and run our plays; not panic and be patient.”

Coventry lad Payne added: “We are a completely new team and will get better with each game once we start trusting each other and communicate. Not many teams would come back from 18 against such good opposition. So I am proud of my guys and it shows we have a well balanced team that are committed."

 Coventry started the game with defence in mind looking to contain Leicester's top scorer Todd Doyle. Early in the quarter Crusaders tried switching several players on Doyle to take him out his offensive flow. Louis Young and Kane Hudson did a great job on Doyle and Coventry finished the opening quarter two points up at 20-18.

In the second an unbeaten Leicester side gained the momentum, while Coventry struggled to find their way through a tough Warriors defence.

Renoso and Danso would be the difference as they broke through with regularity. Renoso would be the difference as he controlled the boards on both ends of the floor, which took Leicester into half-time 11 points up at 52-41.

Coventry had only committed one foul in the entire first half, and Crusaders coach Payne was about to give his troops a half-time talk that was not for the faint hearted.  

As if on queue Payne’s troops came out fired up and with new found vigour.

The third quarter was played at a high level by both teams and Leicester went out to a 18 point lead, only to see Coventry call a time out to fire his troops up again.

This time Leicester had no response to the stifling full-court press and Leicester would see their lead of 18 cut to six at the end of the third.

Coventry was back in the game and gaining confidence and momentum as Leicester ran out of steam.Guard Leigh Cascoe was the difference as coach Payne asked him to stick to Doyle and give him easy looks.

Cascoe would not only lock up Doyle but would hit two big shots with the shot-clock running down.

To add further injury to Leicester’s cause, Simon Payne would come off the bench to hit two long range 3s to put the game out of reach as Coventry ran out eventual 90-81 winners to bring an end to Leicester’s five game unbeaten run.

Coventry’s next game in EBL Division One is a 187 mile trip up to third-placed newcomers Durham Wildcats on Sunday 14 November. Tip-off is 2:30pm at East Durham College.

 

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