Crusaders Celebrate Promotion With A Win

Coventry Crusaders 1 41 West of Scotland 39

After weeks of preparing Crusaders Wheelchair team opened their Second Division account on Saturday 18th September with a win at home to the West of Scotland.

Following their best ever season last year, Crusaders not only gained promotion, but have been able to fortify and expand the squad sufficiently to run a team in both Division’s Two and Three for the new campaign.

The Division Three team tip off their season on the 25th but were very much in evidence on Saturday to add their support to their Division Two counterparts.

With the addition of Keith Batty from the 1st Division RGK Panthers, the strengthened starting five consisting of Batty, Adam Crinage, Carl Leeth, Captain Paul Claridge and Bri Tierney looked geared up and ready for action.

The Crusaders though started nervously and were unable to convert well worked chances against the more experienced Scottish team who’s own performance was flattered by Crusaders poor finishing.

Having chosen to launch the season at the Coventry Sports Centre, rather than their regular home court at  City College Tile Hill, Crusaders had hoped to make more of an immediate impact on their new league, but in reality the first period was a bit of a disappointment.

The two teams traded baskets, nevertheless at the end of the first the scores remained a lowly 8-9 in favour of the visitors.

The second period was only slightly better with the Crusaders still missing easy chances.

A nice move from new signing Batty gave hope to the home side as he picked up a nice rebound from a missed free throw from Claridge, to score 2 points and put his team briefly ahead.

Stirred by Crusaders move forward, West of Scotland hit a good 3 just before the break to finish the half one point up 15-16.

The third quarter saw the Coventry team start to play some good basketball. Making seven of their twelve attempts and shooting 100% from the line, Crusaders hit more points in this quarter than the previous half.  

In contrast the Scottish team could manage just 8 points from the floor and let them selves down badly from the free throw line hits a solitary one from nine.

In the closing seconds of the third Crusaders lost their Captain Paul Claridge to his fifth foul.

Claridge had contributed a useful 6 points this quarter prior to his departure.

His exit forced a change in team personnel bringing Adam Crinage back out on court.

With his first touch of the ball the 16 year old guard drained a peach of a 3 pointer to give Crusaders a commanding lead going into the final quarter 31-25.

The Scots fought back hard in the last quarter with 8 points going unanswered and edging them back ahead.

With five minutes left Sho Ayub hit his only 2 points of the game to stop the Scottish flow.

The remainder of the match it was tight with the lead changing hands three times.

The swelling crowd were being treated to what had now turned into an exciting and competitive contest, and duly showed their support and appreciation for the home sides relentless effort.

With 1 minute to go Crusaders were down 39-37. Digging Deep into their reserves, Crusaders played hard defence stopping their visitor’s from scoring and giving them no second chances as Batty dominated the boards.

Pressure shots by Leeth and Crinage sealed things for Crusader as they recorded their first victory of the season and their first in Division Two. 41-39

Coach Claridge is quoted

“It was good to get the season started with the win, but we know we have a lot of work to do to be at our best!

In summary the team did not play well and missed a lot of chances, but got the win!”

Crusaders Scorers

Sho Ayub 2, Paul Claridge 9, Keith Batty 10, Adam Crinage 10, Carl Leeth 10,

Crusaders MVP is named as Keith Batty on his Debut for the Coventry team.

Next fixture is a double header at home with both Coventry 1st and 2nd teams in action vs Vikings 1 and 2 of Liverpool on Saturday 26th September at City College Tile Hill.