Medway Park Crusaders captain James Harris achieved a significant milestone on the weekend as he broke the Crusaders record for career games played. Saturday’s game was Harris’ 154th game for Crusaders breaking Jeff Wadey’s record of 153.

Harris played in Crusaders first ever senior national league game and is now entering his eighth season with the club. During that time he has established himself as a key player with huge internal drive. He has consistently developed his game and found new ways to contribute.

Harris’ career games record adds to the numerous club records he already holds. Most significantly he holds the career scoring record and the career 3 point shots record. He also has the 3 highest results for 3 pointers in a season and has the record for 3 pointers in a game (8).

Unsurprisingly, he also features in many other categories due to his contribution across the years. He stands second for career FG and career FT while appearing in the top 10 for both career rebounds and assists. Lastly, he has 2 of the top 10 results for points in a season.

Head Coach James Vear praised Harris’ contribution, “He has played a pivotal role in getting the team promoted on 2 different occasions. He continues to work extremely hard on and off the court.”

Harris had mixed feelings when he was made aware of his achievement, “It’s nice to break the career games record while I am captain of Crusaders in EBL1 but definitely not ideal to break it in a loss! It was surreal to do it against a team that had Damian (former Crusader Damian Lyons who is 3rd on the career games list) playing for them, who I played alongside for most of my time here. Either way it’s nice to be recognised for my longevity at this club.”

Crusaders Chairman Jesse Sazant summed up Harris’ achievement by saying, “James has done exceptionally well throughout his time at Crusaders, different coaches have expected different things from him and he has risen to the challenge every time. His work rate and drive to improve himself and prove his abilities on the floor is a great example for all of our juniors.”

Medway Park are pleased to announce the sponsorship of KEW Electrical for their junior programme. KEW Electrical’s sponsorship will mean increased support for our junior and grass roots programmes, allowing more players to access and enjoy basketball.

Kew Electrical is an Independent Electrical Wholesale company whose main priority is to provide professional electrical contractors with the advice, materials and equipment they require to complete their contracts on time and on budget.

As part of FEGIME one of Europe’s leading electrical buying groups they are able to supply quality products at competitive prices whilst having the choice of stock profile and flexibility to change that independence allows us.

All branches are located in the South and South East of England, the furthest west being Lymington in the New Forest and the furthest east being Thanet in Kent.

Crusaders Chairman Jesse Sazant is really pleased to welcome KEW to the Crusaders team, “We really appreciate the support that KEW are offering to help our juniors to take part in basketball.”

The Medway Park Crusaders dropped back to back games this weekend, losing both fixtures on the double header weekend. Saturday saw the BA London Leopards come away from Medway Park with a 103-92 victory in the National Trophy. Crusaders were unable to regroup on Sunday as they saw themselves become an upset victim losing to the Newham (NASSA) Neptunes from EBL3 78-75 in the National Cup.

The Crusaders opened Saturday’s game strongly with some inside scoring from Canadian Joe Schow helping them establish an early 13-6 lead. Leopards were able to trim the deficit to 19-16 by the end of the first quarter.

Tom Raymen caught fire in the second quarter hitting a trio of 3 point shots as Crusaders were able to maintain a lead through most of the quarter. However a late 8-2 run by Leopards gave them a 4 point lead, 46-42 going into the halftime break.

In the third quarter, Leopards American guard Vernon Tell and British/Australian guard John Lister began to take over the game. Behind the 2 guards and the energetic play of American forward Ousman Krubally, Leopards were able to stretch the lead to double figures.

Leopards continued to pour it on and the lead reached 20 late in the 4th quarter. With both teams going to their benches, Crusaders all of a sudden regained the momentum and went on a 13-0 run to cut the lead to 7 with 90 seconds remaining. It was too little too late for Crusaders though as they weren’t able to further reduce the deficit.

Coach Vear was notably frustrated after the game, “We were inconsistent tonight, especially defensively. We have to try and put together 40 minutes of basketball. At this level you have to play with consistency and we are not at that stage yet.”

Teel finished the game with 40 points for Leopards while Krubally added 27 and 10 rebounds. But what impressed Vear most was the effort they both in, “Leopards 2 imports were great tonight. I don’t think I have seen two imports work harder. They hurt us in various ways tonight and I’m sure they will put big numbers all year.”

The one bright light for Vear was the play of some of the players at the end of the game. “The bench players who came in at midway through the fourth did the team proud. They showed the entire team just what hard work and determination does, that alone got us back in it with just over a minute left.”

Despite the poor defensive effort, 5 Crusaders did score in double figures led by Schow with 14, followed by Gareth Laws (13), Raymen (12), Adrian Fenyn (11) and Disraeli Lufadeju (10).

The loss means Crusaders can no longer qualify for the National Trophy quarterfinals, making their two remaining group games opportunities to get ready for league play which commences on 29 October.

Things didn’t get any better the next day as Medway Park found themselves knocked out of the National Cup by EBL3’s Newham Neptunes.

With Kalil Irving and Tom Raymen sitting out after picking up knocks against Leopards and Joe Schow also missing due to import rules, Crusaders started the game with little energy. A very sloe start saw them score only 24 points in the first half as Newham took a 29-24 lead.

Medway Park came to life in the 3rd quarter, outscoring Newham 26-12 as they established a 50-41 lead going into the final quarter. Newham showed no signs of letting up, and despite only scoring 41 points in the opening 30 minutes of the match, exploded for 37 4th quarter points on their way to the 78-75 victory.

Vear expressed his frustration saying, “Once again it comes down to consistency with us as there were some excellent points in the game where we played very well but we have to make sure we do that for 40 minutes. Don’t take anything away from NASSA though, they came to play and were excellent all game long.”

Crusaders will now how to get themselves refocused as they travel to Derby next weekend in the National Trophy. The Derby Trailblazers are currently 3-0 in the Trophy group so this will be a tough test for Crusaders. American Troy Whittingdon has made an impressive start with Derby, and joins Rashi Kakd who played for Leicester as Derby’s key scorers. They are surrounded by a strong group of experienced players with a good understanding of how to succeed at this level.

Vear is looking forward to getting back to training, “It’s my job to pick the guys up and get us working collectively together in practice. We have a lot of new guys and it will take some time for us to all get on the right page. I and the team are up for the challenge.”

“Derby look like the form team so far. They have picked up some good wins against some very good teams, we have to make sure we come ready to play and make sure we get our consistency back.”

The Medway Park Crusaders will face a home and away double header this weekend. On Saturday, Medway Park welcome the London Leopards in a key National Trophy match before travelling to face Newham in the 2nd round of the National Cup.

Saturday’s match-up will be crucial for Medway Park as they are currently 0-2 in the Trophy. They must finish in the top 4 of their group of 6 to advance to the quarterfinals. To do this they will likely need to win at least 2 of their remaining 3 games.

Leopards come into the game 1-1 in the Trophy after a tough overtime loss to Derby on the weekend. This will be the second time the teams meet this season, having squared off in the Crusaders pre-season tournament. Medway Park were victorious on that occasion but London have since added American guard Vernon Teel.

Leopards will be led by their 2 Americans, Teel and last season’s star player Ousman Krubally. Teel announced his arrival in England with a 38 point, 10 rebound effort against Derby, while Krubally tallied 36 with an astonishing 20 rebounds. Surrounding the imports will be a large contingent of exciting young players produced through Barking Abbey’s academy.

Crusaders Head Coach James Vear is aware of the threat Leopards bring, “Leopards are one of the teams I expect to be close to the top come the end of the season. They have one of the best players in the league in Krubally who can do a bit of everything and reminds me a lot of Adrian (Fenyn). Coach Mihevc seems to be doing a great job bringing through the younger players as well, with some of them still eligible to play U18 & U16. It’s great to see these young English players given a chance to compete at this level which can only be good for their development.”

He added, “It’s also nice to see Rikki Broadmore back as he is a previous Crusader player and now an assistant coach with Leopards.”

On Sunday, Crusaders will travel to Newham to face the Newham NASSA Neptunes. NASSA are one of the highest regarded junior clubs in London and nationally. The senior team is rapidly developing with exciting young players and will pose a real challenge for Crusaders, especially as they will only be allowed to play 1 of their import players. Cup rules mean that any EBL1 team playing an opponent from a lower division is only permitted to play 1 import player.

Coach Vear knows that NASSA are more than capable of pulling off the upset, “NASSA I think have the best EBL3 line-up in the country. They have a lot of experience and some players who have played at the highest level in this country. One of those players is ex-Crusader Damian Lyons who played for the Crusaders for a number of years. It will be strange to play against him after coaching him for a number of years. We know how good he is and what he brings to any team he plays for. We will have to play very well if we want to progress to the next round.”

Overall despite some early season set backs, Vear remains very positive, “We have changed a few things in practice and the team have responded very well to the changes. Defensively we need to be a lot better and make sure we play defense as a team. We also need to make sure we are focused for the full 40 minutes, in this league if you lose your concentration even for a couple of minutes teams will capitalise on that.

The team chemistry is still very good and I can feel us getting better every time we practice. Having some of the guys return from last years team including Sam Betts and JP Dimandja has improved practice as they know what I expect and its two more players pushing for minutes.”

The Medway Park Crusaders fell to 0-2 in the National Trophy after losing 74-67 against the Bradford Dragons.

The Crusaders had the early advantage as Bradford struggled to score. Crusaders took an early 14-7 lead and were still leading 17-11 after the first.

The second quarter was a very different story, as Bradford went on an early 12-3 run behind a series of aggressive moves by Richard Sulcs. The teams then began to trade baskets with Luke Baker and Gareth Laws scoring from mid range for Crusaders while Chris McGrew was scoring from the post for Bradford. Another mini-run by the Dragons gave them a 38-31 lead at the half.

After Bradford scored the first basket of the half, Crusaders usual defensive intensity returned. They forced Bradford into a series of turnovers and tough shots and Adrian Fenyn began to take over offensively. A 13-4 run resulted in Crusaders retaking the lead 44-42. Once again Sulcs asserted himself and Bradford clawed their way back to a 53-50 lead entering the final quarter.

In the 4th Crusaders continued to rely heavily on Fenyn on offence, while Sulcs and McGrew continued to cause problems for them defensively. After Crusaders tied the game at 57, Bradford took control moving out to an 8 point lead that Crusaders never were able to close.

Fenyn led Medway park with 28, no one else was in double figures. Sulcs had 23 for Bradford with McGrew adding 15.

Coach James Vear was very frustrated, ““I’m very disappointed in the way we played tonight, I can take a defeat if I feel like the guys left everything on the floor but they didn’t do that tonight. At times we just didn’t compete and against a team like Bradford you have to do that for 40 minutes. This is not meant to take anything away from Bradford, they are a well coached team who know how to win.”

Fenyn also complimented the Dragons, “Bradford did a good job coming in and playing to their strengths. They are a unit that has played together for multiple seasons and that was reflected in the last 5 minutes of the game.”

Medway now has a weekend off before facing a double header weekend when they host London Leopards on 8 October at 5:00 at Medway Park before travelling to NASSA on the 9 October in the 2nd round of the National Cup.