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.