By James
Bourne
Coventry Crusaders suffered last-second heartbreak in
their first home league game of the season as they went down 79-80 to
the Reading Rockets in a tense Division One encounter.
Reading’s last three league games were all settled by
six points or less so a tight contest was to be expected – but nobody at
the Coventry Sports and Leisure Centre would have guessed how tight it
ended up.
Siman Stewart had two free throws to take the match
into overtime in the very last play but missed out on his first attempt.
Stewart nailed the second throw like he was in his own back yard but by
then the pressure was off and the game was lost.
However Crusaders head coach Roger Payne remained upbeat following
the defeat, insisting: "No one wants to lose a game that way, but I
am proud of my guys and it will only encourage us to play even
harder."
The Crusaders now have a
1-4 record in the league but they had chances to wrap up the game after
a superb third quarter.
Trailing 37-47 at half time, Coventry won the third
quarter 30-13 to give themselves a big advantage – and they led by 10
midway through the final quarter before succumbing to a Reading fight
back.
The first half was a generally scrappy affair with
too many fouls in the arc contributing to a lack of flow.
Crusaders were killed on the free throws, with
Reading notching 21 out of 22 points from the line in the first half.
Coventry saw a lot of the ball in the opening stages,
led by their impressive captain Michael Gale, but played a very
intricate inside game which when it worked looked spectacular, but when
it didn’t left them susceptible to the counter.
However the Crusaders’ defence worked hard in and
around the arc to stop Reading’s strong three-point shooters, with the
Rockets dropping only six bombs all game.
Dave Edden made a welcome return to the side in the
second quarter, notching up two rebounds and four points overall.
New signing Casey Crawford stood out in the third
quarter, putting 16 points on the board in his total of 26 as Coventry
took charge.
But coach Payne will be ruing the advantage his team
let slip in a thrilling final stanza.
With the visitors needing to find nine points in
three and a half minutes after a Crawford lay up brought it to 77-68,
Payne visibly angered as the Crusaders defense parted like the red sea
to let Louis Sayers in for the easiest of scores.
This started an 11-point run for the Rockets, with
Harrison Gamble’s downtown three tying the game up at 77-77, followed
seconds later by a Niko Scott lay up to give the Rockets the lead for
the first time since the middle of the third quarter.
Then came the tensest of climaxes in the final 90
seconds. After Gale brought one point back from the line for Crusaders,
Scott was needlessly fouled by Roy Owen for the Rockets.
Scott’s second throw went in but was ruled out by the
officials for an infringement, leaving Crusaders two behind at 78-80
with thirty seconds to play.
A further hold-up from the officials with 0:19 on the
clock simply added to the tension, and Crusaders thought they’d been
saved when Stewart was barged inside the key trying to get a shot away.
But Stewart fluffed his lines, putting a dampener on
an otherwise fine individual performance, to give the Rockets a vital
two points.
Coventry have a chance to redeem themselves next
Saturday at last season's Division One champions Derby Trailblazer, who
are struggling at the foot of the table from a 1-6 record.
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