Saturday 8th December 2012: Cheadle Thunder 26 - 29 Heaton Venom
Half Time: Cheadle Thunder 10 - 16 Heaton Venom
Not a game of two halves, but for Thunder definitely a game of two parts. For the first ten minutes, Cheadle looked like they'd barely played basketball before. Venom players were left unmarked in the key, or allowed to stroll in and score easy baskets. Passes went astray and, as Venom built up a ten point lead, it looked like the game might be a big embarrassment.
After about ten minutes, Barry called a time out and had a quiet chat with the team - as Barry tends to do - and Thunder remembered how to play. From that point on, Cheadle had the edge for the rest of the game.
Had Thunder played the first ten minutes the way they played the last 30, they would have won comfortably. Unfortunately, they didn't and it's the whole game that counts - despite closing the gap to as little as two points, Thunder couldn't quite get ahead and Venom ended up winning by three.
When they were playing well, Thunder did all the right things. Venom were closely marked, closed down and mobbed in the key - they went from being able to take comfortable shots at their leisure to being blocked time and again.
In attack, Thunder were good. Both sides had their share of speculative shots from too far out, but in the second half Thunder were slightly better at creating space, passing the ball and driving into the key.
Today also saw the return of Kane - a founder team member of Cheadle Thunder who left the team a couple of years ago. Kane had a good first game back, even making a basket.
Points scored: Joshua - 10, Sean - 6, Joe - 6, Sol - 2, Kane - 2
Venom points scored: #9 - 11, #5 - 6, #10 - 6, #7 - 5, #11 - 1.
Thunder man of the match: Josh who came out as top scorer as well as taking the Point Guard position and taking quite a few defensive rebounds.
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