The Kent Crusaders looked a tired team as they rallied to beat tough Plymouth Raiders II on Saturday but went out of the Patrons Cup at the semi-final stage in disappointing fashion. They are still feeling the effects of a packed first half of the season with a lot of long road trips and 4 games in the space of 9 days.

Despite injuries and fatigue the weekend started well with the Crusaders facing up against a gritty Raiders team who were on a three game winning streak. It was an edgy start to the game with a lot of missed shot attempts for both teams. 3 pointers from Robbie Parker and Soren Sorenson helped to get the Crusaders in front. Veteran guard Jeff Wadey hassled the Raiders point guard picking up a sharp steal. A quick pass to Parker set up an easy bucket and helped Crusaders finish the quarter up 5.

The second quarter continued to be scrappy with both sides playing tough defence. Captain Pete Ayling entered the game and immediately connected with a 3 pointer, then got released by Parker for a fast break lay up. Crusaders started to spark at both ends of the floor with Sorenson clearing the boards and the whole team running the lanes with speed and intensity. The Raiders couldn’t keep pace with the up-tempo style of play and were down by 12 at half time.

Crusaders couldn’t find the same consistency at the start of the second half struggling to contain Raiders star player Jay Marriott. Having closed the deficit to 5 points James Harris stepped up to stop the rot with a three pointer under pressure. Still the Raiders continued to press, going strong to the hoop and playing tough, physical defence. At the end of the third they had got to within 3 points of the tired looking Crusaders.

Finally the Crusaders found their intensity again. Raiders struggled to connect and were not coping with the physical defence. JP Dimandja patrolled the key threatening to swat any loose shots into the crowd and Simon Mitchell and Damian Lyons wreaked havoc with the opponent’s guards. Mitchell connected with Parker twice in quick succession who drilled a three, then ran in a pressure lay-up to go up by 8. Still the Raiders pressed on led by Marriott and James Burchell who both penetrated the defence for easy scores.

Crusaders found themselves up by only 2 when James Harris rattled a long three around the ring. He then broke through the defence to pick up his own rebound and hit Mitchell for an open three. Sam Betts then picked off a Raiders pass and hit Harris on the break who was fouled going to the hoop. With time winding down Lyons, Mitchell and Harris kept going at the Plymouth defence, hitting their foul shots to see out the game. At the end the Crusaders had taken everything the Raiders could throw at them and triumphed by 12 points, 78-66, in a well fought encounter.

After the game Robbie Parker commented, “I don’t feel like we put in a great performance tonight but it was good to see us step up when we needed to.” The win moves Kent up to fourth in the league on the same number of wins as Leicester who are third.

For the Sunday Patrons Cup semi final game against Team Northumbria the Crusaders took to the floor looking jaded with the recent busy schedule taking its toll. Both teams looked nervous and with over three minutes gone only 5 points had been scored. With the scores tied Pete Ayling hit a three pointer off a Simon Mitchell pass, after Mitchell had split the Northumbria defence. Mitchell then made another good pass to Danish big man Soren Sorenson who went strong to the hoop. A steal by star guard Robbie Parker continued the rally with the home team clearly in the ascendancy. JP Dimandja flew in to pick up an offensive rebound and feed Parker for a long two pointer. More steals from Parker and Dimandja put pressure on the Northumbrian forwards. When a Dimandja steal released Ayling for a fast break lay-up the Crusaders found themselves up 13-7 with 3:42 to go in the first quarter.

Unfortunately the home team wouldn’t score again until well into the second quarter. Corey Diethorn and Jon Iriondo proved too much to handle and led Team Northumbria on a 16-0 run.

It wasn’t until a minute and a half into the second quarter that the Crusaders finally connected by which time they trailed 29-16. Parker tried to lift his team hitting two 3 pointers in quick succession to bring the score back to within 10. The home side continued to dig in and play tough defence with a clutch of rebounds by Sam Betts, Jeff Wadey and JP Dimandja but they still couldn’t fire properly on the offensive end of the floor. As the half wound to a close Ayling was able to pick up an offensive rebound and make a quick score on the buzzer. Crusaders still found themselves down 45-29 and had a mountain to climb in the second half.

In the second half the home team desperately tried to seize the initiative with Mitchell picking the pocket of the Northumbrian point guard and running in the fast break. Rafal Sojcynski picked up three offensive rebounds but players were still ice-cold and failed to connect on the second chances. The home side just couldn’t bring the score to within 10 and as missed shots piled up they found themselves down by 19 with only one quarter remaining.

Things went from bad to worse in the fourth and when a complaint about a questionable decision led to a technical foul against the Crusaders they were soon facing a 21 point deficit. Refusing to go down easy the home side dug deep for a final charge. Parker and Harris made consecutive pressure three pointers and Mitchell found himself floored on his own three point attempt, then stepped up to hit two of his free throws. Harris, Mitchell and Sorenson continued to penetrate through the imposing Northumbria defence to get within 11 points with five minutes to go. Despite continuing to play hard on defence the Crusaders were looking like a team playing on empty. Missed shots piled up and when the away side went on a 9-0 run the game was over. Crusaders ran out losers 68-82 ending their run in this year’s Patrons Cup.

Missed shots hurt the home team badly, shooting 30 percent from the field and missing 22 three pointers and 8 of 21 free throws. Assistant captain Damian Lyons said “We’re very disappointed with our performance; we just didn’t play with enough intensity to get the job done against a very good team in a national semi-final”.

EBL National League Division 2
Kent Crusaders (19, 41, 54) 78
Plymouth Raiders 2 (14, 29, 51) 66

Scoring:
Kent: Parker 14, Harris 11
Plymouth: Burchell 27, Mariott 25
Webcast stats: http://www.fibalivestats.com/matches/123/00/48/30/98TRjMA61A4L2/

Patrons Cup, Semi Final
Kent Crusaders (13, 39, 42) 68
Team Northumbria (23, 45, 61) 82

Scoring:
Kent: Parker 15, Harris 15, Sorensen 10
Northumbria: Iriondo 22, Peard 19, Diethorn 11
Webcast: http://www.fibalivestats.com/matches/123/00/49/52/76DezjZYRjY/

This entry was posted on Monday, February 2nd, 2009 at 9:51 pm and is filed under Game Reports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.