|
Wildcats
had pinpointed this as a game they might win, but Avon Valley
seemed to have other ideas as an opening 3-pointer in the
third minute gave the home side the advantage. But with Avon
missing five consecutive foul shots Chamberlain and Parry
twice combined to give Wildcats a 6-4 fifth minute lead.
Two trademark
driving baskets from Chris Stevens gave Wildcats a 10-7 advantage
before Avon tied the game 11-11. It was Stevens who gave Wildcats
a 14-13 advantage with six second of the quarter remaining,
and with the Wildcats players congratulating themselves on
taking a first quarter lead, the fell asleep and lacked concentration
as Avon stole the quarter with a 3-point buzzer beater to
lead 14-16
After
Chamberlain had tied the game 16-16 with the opening basket
of the second quarter Avon took a four point lead 16-20. But
Wildcats playing some of their best basketball to date outscored
the home side 12-4 to lead 28-24
Basket
for basket followed until a repeat of the end of the first
quarter saw Wildcats score with a few seconds remaining only
for Avon to run straight down the other end to tie the game
with a buzzer beater to tie the game 33-33, so the lesson
at the end of the first quarter was not learned..........
The second
half saw Wildcats storm out of the blocks and outscore the
home team 12-2 through the twin towers of Stewart and chamberlain,
to take a a ten point lead 45-35 after five mins of the third
quarter.
But sadly
Wildcats either became afraid of winning or they became their
own victims of their success for they failed to feed the big
guys or they decided on a one dribble no pass shot offence
which is and was a total recipe for disaster, as was proved
as they immediately allowed Avon Valley back into the game45-43.
A couple of silly fouls at the end allowed Avon Valley to
close out the third quarter on a high and in touch 55-51
|
|
|
Having
warned Wildcats that the opening three minutes would
determine if Wildcats would win the game, and how right
this was to be as Wildcats twice allowed an Avon Valley
ball-handler to beat eight wildcat players(I know there
are only five on court!) and score a lap...............
and so Avon took the lead 58-59
Going
into the final minute Wildcats following poor defence
and a contention of their no pass dribble shoot after
ten seconds offence saw them seven points adrift 83-76
with one minute 15 secs on the clock.
Whilst
the players did not believe they could pull it back
tactics were introduced to try and achieve an improbable
victory, and so it proved as in the last split second
Bracket was fouled and went to the line to shoot two
shots to win the game, but with the Avon Valley bench
including their coach, illegally creating a disturbance
it was enough to put Young Bracket off and so Avon managed
to pluck a victory from the jaws of defeat 81-82
The
game highlighted several deficiencies, but the main
one was on the poor basic defensive fundamentals, which
let Avon score more points than they had a right to,
so a lot of work on defence has to be done in order
to move Wildcats up to the next level
|
|
P
|
W
|
L
|
F
|
A
|
Pts
|
| Northampton |
11
|
10
|
1
|
958
|
567
|
21
|
| Stoke |
10
|
8
|
2
|
866
|
726
|
18
|
| Nottingham |
10
|
5
|
5
|
666
|
597
|
15
|
| Derby |
8
|
7
|
1
|
674
|
472
|
15
|
| B,ham |
9
|
6
|
3
|
565
|
486
|
15
|
| Shropshire |
9
|
3
|
6
|
414
|
518
|
11
|
| Wildcats |
9
|
1
|
8
|
447
|
717
|
10
|
| XL
B,ham |
9
|
2
|
7
|
455
|
965
|
10
|
| Avon
Valley |
9
|
2
|
7
|
512
|
668
|
10
|
| Leicester |
6
|
1
|
5
|
313
|
457
|
6
|
|
Results
w/e 20/21st Jan 2001
|
| Derby |
91-65
|
Nottingham |
| Northants |
85-31
|
XL
B,ham |
| Leicester |
89-102
|
Stoke |
| Bullets |
90-73
|
Avon
Valley |
| Shropshire |
48-49
|
Bullets |
|
|