CT vs TV Spartans (play-off) 16/3/13

Final score: Cheadle Thunder 21 - TV Spartans 41

Half time score: Cheadle Thunder 10 - TV Spartans 15

Thunder team: Joe, Sol, Matt, Dan, Sean, Josh R, Josh H,

Points scored: Josh R 9, Sean 6, Joe 2, Sol 2, Dan 2

Thunder more than doubled their score compared to the last time they faced TV Spartans, which sounds like a better tactical approach to playing against zone defence.  A cracking 3-pointer from Sean and an almost-3-pointer from Joe along with a basket from Dan and baskets from Sol and Josh R kept Thunder's score respectable.

After a tough season, Thunder will be going down to the second division next season, which should see them return to winning ways.

Josh R. is moving teams - probably to Heaton Venom - which means this is most likely the last match report I'll write for Thunder.  I'm not sure how long the lads have been playing - four years?  Thanks to everyone past and present, player and parent.  It's been lots of fun.

Here are a couple of photos from times past (when Cheadle Thunder won yr 5/6 Div 1).

All the best,

Iain.

CT vs Heaton Hawks 9/3/13

Final score: Cheadle Thunder 18 - Heaton Hawks 44

Half time score: Cheadle Thunder 7 - Heaton Hawks 16

Thunder team: Joe, Sol, Matt, Sean, Josh R, Dan, Josh H, Sean

Points scored: Josh R 8, Sol 7, Joe 3

CT vs Heaton Falcons 09/3/13

Final score: Cheadle Thunder 19 - Heaton Falcons 35

Half time score: Cheadle Thunder 6 - Heaton Falcons 19

Thunder team: Joe, Sol, Matt, Sean, Josh R, Josh H, Dan

Points scored: Josh 8, Sol 6, Joe 5

CT vs Heaton Venom, 2/3/13

Final score: Cheadle Thunder 26 - Heaton Venom 35

Half time score: Cheadle Thunder 13 - Heaton Venom 11

Thunder team: Joe, Sol, Matt, Sean, Josh, Tom

Points scored: Joe 10, Josh 8, Sol 4, Matt 2, Sean 2

The first half was a good one for Thunder who were four points clear at one point, but Venom were able to up their game in the second half and Thunder struggled to reply.

We had the now-traditional player fouled off (which we almost always get with this one ref, and never seem to even come close with any other ref), but that didn't disguise the problems in the second half.

Thunder's marking was far too loose, allowing Venom players clear space and letting them break away from their marker too easily.  Our shooting was sloppy in the second half and we weren't getting people into the key to pick up the rebounds.  The result was too many occasions when they took easy baskets or picked up the offensive rebound, and Venom scoring nearly as many points in the second half as Thunder did in the whole game.

There were some good moments, but Thunder's tactical weaknesses are being exposed too regularly by the opposition.

CT vs TV Spartans 23/2/13

Final score: Cheadle Thunder 9 - TV Spartans 33

Half time score: Cheadle Thunder 6 - TV Spartans 15

Thunder team: Joe, Sol, Matt, Dan, Sean, Josh, Josh H, Tom

Points scored: Josh 5, Sean 2, Kane 2

A very disappointing and frustrating game in which Thunder were well-beaten.  The game highlighted Thunder's tactical weaknesses.  TV Spartans played zone defence, which is fairly easy for a well-drilled team to defeat (you take the longer shots and get men around the basket for the rebounds).  Unfortunately, Thunder struggled, and that's a lesson to learn for future training sessions.

Fixtures 23rd Feb - 9th Mar 2013

Saturday 23rd February: Thunder vs TV Spartans - 1.30pm, court 2

Saturday 2nd March: Thunder vs Heaton Venom - 1.30pm, court 2

Saturday 9th March: TWO GAMES
              Thunder vs Heaton Falcons - 12.40pm, court 1
              Thunder vs Heaton Hawks - 2.20pm, court 1

CT vs Heaton Hawks 2/2/13

Final score: Cheadle Thunder 32 - Heaton Hawks 39

Half time score: Cheadle Thunder 11 - Heaton Hawks 23

Thunder team: Joe, Sol, Matt, Dan, Sean, Josh, Josh H, Tom

Points scored: Josh 9, Sol 8, Joe 8, Sean 7

Heaton Hawks points scored: Josh (#30) 29, Seb (#10) 6, Rahul (#15) 2, Adam (#7) 2

Games between Thunder and Hawks tend to be odd affairs, and today's was no exception.  Hawk's number 30 is several inches taller than everyone else on the court - and a decent player - and the final score largely reflects his efforts.  Thunder struggle against taller opposition and may need to get some tactics to better deal with that!

Thunder struggled in the first half as the Hawks number 30 piled on the points (scoring 20 of their 23).  

A stronger team effort in the second half saw Thunder narrow the gap to just five points, before a late basket from Hawks just before the buzzer.  In the second half Thunder simply worked harder, in attack and defence. Sol, Joe and Sean were strong around the basket in attack, working well together, with Dan, Tom and Josh H all playing their part, especially in defence.

Thunder did best when all five players on the court were doing their bit.  In defence, the team were far more successful at putting Hawks off their shooting in the second half.  In attack they were much busier, making strong runs into the key and picking up a lot more offensive rebounds.

The final result was in truth a lottery.  There was only one referee on the court, which resulted in a good deal more dodgy decisions that we'd normally see: he can't be everywhere at once and there's a reason basketball matches have two refs!

The two top scorers (our Josh and their Josh) were both fouled off, with several of the fouls being questionable at best.  As it happens, our Josh was fouled off with 16 minutes still on the clock, theirs with 3: had decisions gone the other way it could easily have been the other way round, in which case Thunder would almost certainly have brought home the victory.

So a lot of positives, especially in the second half in which Thunder comfortably scored more points.

 

CT vs Heaton Venom 26/1/13

Saturday 26th January 2013: Cheadle Thunder 29 - Heaton Venom 34

Half time score: Cheadle Thunder 13 - Heaton Venom 17

Thunder team: Joe, Sol, Matt, Dan, Sean, Josh, Josh H, Kane

Points scored: Josh 19, Joe 6, Sean 2, Sol 1, Josh H 1

Heaton Venom points scored: Keiran (#11) 10, Adam 9, Lewis 6, Morgan 3, Luke 2, Saul 2, Kieran M (#6) 2.

I didn't see this game (thanks to Steve for taking on scoring duties) - so a shorter report than normal.

It was a tight game right the way through, with Venom taking a four point lead into half time and the teams all square at 27-27 near the end before Venom just edged it.  Good team performance from Thunder and congratulations to Josh Hall for sinking his first basket for Thunder.

Sol, Josh, Joe and Matt will be joined by former Thunder player Matt Adshead and Lapwings stars Fiona and Libby, playing for Kingsway in an inter-school tournament on Thursday so good luck to them,

Fixtures 2nd-16th Feb 2013

Saturday 2nd February 2.20pm Cheadle Thunder v Heaton Hawks (court 1)

Saturday 9th February 11am Cheadle Thunder v Lapwings (court 2)

Saturday 16th February 1.30pm Cheadle Thunder v Heaton Falcons (court 2)

CT vs TV Spartans 19/1/13

Saturday 19th January 2013: Cheadle Thunder 18 - TV Spartans 25

Half time score: Cheadle Thunder 5 - TV Spartans 11

Thunder team: Tom, Joe, Sol, Matt, Dan, Josh, Josh H, Kane

Points scored: Josh 8, Joe 6, Matt 3, Kane 1

TV Spartans points scored: Brandon 6, Jay 6, Danny 4, Olly 5, Ravi 2, Tom 1, Jake 1

TV Spartans are always a tough team to take on, with a couple of players much bigger than anyone on Thunder.  Cheadle struggled to break through to the key against Spartans' strong defence, and there were only two scores in the first half.  Matt sunk a superb three pointer to open Thunder's account and Josh added another two,

The first half was made even more difficult by Thunder picking up 9 fouls (every foul past seven in a half is two free shots to the opposition, regardless of where on the court it occured).  It was doubly frustrating as at least two of the fouls were given when the referee was unsighted and from the scoring desk we could see there was no contact, but that's the way it goes sometimes (when the opposition parents are shouting "We love you referee" and you know exactly why, it's not great!).

The second half was a much tighter affair.  Although Cheadle still struggled to drive through to the basket, the team got much more effective at scoring on the break.  Joe and Josh made three baskets each, before an injury to Josh in the last minute saw Kane come on and sink a free throw.  Spartans won the second half, but only by a single point.

Sol and Dan worked hard in defence, and to keep the ball moving around: restricting Spartans to 25 points was a good effort, especially when they had two players tall enough to just stand and shoot in position that's almost impossible to defend against without fouling.  This week also saw the first game for Josh Hall, who made a good start and I'm sure we'll see a lot more of in weeks to come.

Spartans are a tough team with a real mix of player heights and Thunder struggled to defend against them.  A win would have been great, but the performance is one Cheadle can be reasonably happy with.

CT vs Heaton Falcons 12/1/13

Saturday 12th January 2013: Cheadle Thunder 40 - Heaton Falcons 27

Half time score: Cheadle Thunder 23 - Heaton Falcons 9

Thunder team: Tom, Joe, Sol, Matt, Sean, Josh

Points scored: Josh 20, Joe 8, Sean 8, Sol 4

Heaton Falcons points scored: Thomas 11, Danny 6, Robert 5, Mason 5

Thunder have long had a problem with slow starts, often falling behind early on and not being able to catch up.  I hope it isn't tempting fate to say that in recent weeks that's not happened and today was the best start we've seen for a while.

Josh and Sol sunk seven baskets in the first few minutes to give Thunder a strong lead.  Sol's trademark longer shots went in, whilst Josh's ability to drive through and contrive a score from almost any position by the basket improves week on week.  More points from Joe and Sean saw Thunder take a 14 point lead into half time.

Every player contributed and there was strong defending and passing from Matt and Tom (who picked up three early fouls in the line of duty).

Falcons will be disappointed at their finishing in the first half, but that doesn't take away from a very strong Thunder performance.

In the second half Falcons played much better, Thomas sinking a couple of of big 3-pointers and Mason making several blistering runs to the key that Thunder were unable to stop.  Thunder's lead was being steadily chipped away and they were getting just a little loose in defence, allowing too much to sneak through.

But after a timeout, Thunder pulled it together.  We didn't see the domination of the first half, but Thunder came back strongly and did enough to take victory with a comfortable 13 point margin.

Overall the best performance we've seen in a while, albeit against a slightly weaker team than some we've faced.  In particular, Thunder were marking properly this week (for a change!), with man-marking working effectively and a decent record on defensive rebounds.

CT vs Lapwings 5/1/13

Saturday 5th January 2013: Cheadle Thunder 21 - Lapwings 31

Half time score: Cheadle Thunder 10 - Lapwings 7

Thunder team: Kane, Tom, Joe, Matt, Sol, Josh, Dan

Points scored: Josh 13, Joe 4, Matt 2, Sol 2

Lapwings points scored: Darcia 9, Emily 8, Libby P 8, Iona 4, Tash 2

Despite a late tip-off as bibs were hunted out to distinguish between two teams in green, Thunder made a strong and convincing start against a weakened Lapwings side.  For the first three minutes the action was end-to-end but nothing was going in for either team.

Finally, Josh opened the scoring and the two teams stayed close after that.  Sol sunk an excellent two-pointer from just inside the three point line and Thunder went into half time with a 10-7 advantage.

Sol, Matt, Josh and Joe kicked up the energy level at the start of the second half and soon Thunder were in a convincing 18-13 lead with about 13 minutes left on the clock.  There were lots of good runs and passes as Thunder pressed forward.

That's when it all went wrong and a game Thunder should have wrapped up ended with a comfortable victory for Lapwings as they piled on the pressure and the points.  Thunder seemed to give up, making little effort to secure offensive or defensive rebounds and letting too many sloppy passes go astray.  Lapwings took full advantage with a number of sharp interceptions and some good shooting.

Lapwings put on ten points without Thunder managing to reply, then added another eight with Thunder scoring three.

The reffing in this game was good, with few disputed decisions and the game allowed to flow well.

Fixtures January 2013

Saturday 12th January 2.20pm Thunder vs Heaton Falcons (court 1)

Saturday 19th January 1.30pm Thunder vs TV Spartans (court 2)

Saturday 26th January 1.30pm Thunder vs Heaton Venom (court 2)