CT v. NR Kings

First half:

First few minutes of the match both teams looked sluggish - relaxed for the school hols perhaps? At five minutes Joe was fouled and made a point. At this point NR Kings stopped being relaxed. Their #13 took the lead, driving through an open hole in the Cheadle defence to score easily. Then he tried it again, drew a foul from Tom and scored 2 from the free throws. Then he did the same again, putting NRK ahead 6:1. As the tally of fouls mounted Cheadle started to look jittery in defence, and NRK took advantage, #8 and #10 taking the lead and driving into the key and to the basket almost unopposed. “Killer” Matt F gets an honourable mention for single-minded pursuit and one-on-one defence Too often he was single-handed, with other players just not running or tackling.

Half time score CT 1: NRK 18

Second Half.

CT came out with more aggression, and made a good start, with Sean scoring in the first minute. Aggressive play from Josh forced fouls from the opposition. Cheadle were very much in control, making 5 points in the first 10 minutes while NRK managed only 1. It's fair to point out that NRK had their most dangerous players off court at the beginning and their return made the last 10 minutes much harder for Cheadle, though not quite the whitewash of the first half, with good baskets from Joe and Sol.

Final score CT 10; NRK 30

Stats

CT: Joe, Josh - 3 each; Sean, Sol 2 each.

NRK: #13 - 11; #8 - 7; #9 - 4

Bob's opinion:

The first half was a bit of an embarrassment, with the team looking very lazy. Without Matt F's efforts the score could easily have been 1:30 at half time. Too often, both in attack and defence, the team let a single player take the strain, and were prepared to saunter down the court after him. It wasn't a good look. And the lack of attention to rebounds left the supporters tearing their hair out (Don't worry, Barry, it'll grow back... probably). We were lucky that NRK were bad at it too.

It did take some guts to come back and play better in the second half. The score in the second half was 9:12 to the NRK, so not a bad come-back by Cheadle. Even #13 was kept under control. This is what the team can do, we just need to do it from the start of the match.

And commiserations to Tom, sent off for fouls in the last 5 minutes. Don't be put off. Better to try a tackle and fail than not to try. Practise will get it right.