The Medway Park Crusaders were hit hard as the swine flu decimated the team. During the week leading up to their game against the Edmonton Storm five of ten players were hit by the virus. Captain Sam Betts, big man JP Dimandja and point guards Tom Raymen and Jeff Wadey were unable to participate in the game while shooting guard James Harris recovered sufficiently to take part in the game, although he was far from 100%.

“It was definitely a challenge”, said Crusaders head coach Mads Olesen, “but how you respond to challenges is what defines what kind of team you’re going to be. If we stand up and fight in a situation like this we’ll stand up and fight no matter what is thrown at us this season. We knew it was going to be tough, and it definitely was. We were not able to come out with the win, but the players showed some gut and determination in the second half and I’m proud of that”.

The other players available were Canadian star big man Brad Smith, starting guards Damian Lyons, and Kalil Irving, Swiss wing Greg Currat and little used wing player Lewis Elgar.

While the short-handed Crusaders put up a good fight they were unable to weather the Storm. Edmonton came out gunning in he first quarter and within four minutes the Crusaders found themselves down 22-8. A time out was called and defensive changes were made. Crusaders defence improved considerably, while they managed to get the ball inside to Brad Smith again and again as they went on a 13-1 run.

The Storm managed to get the last points of the first quarter as a three pointer from Ben Clarke brought them up 26-21, but Crusaders were within striking distance. As was to be the picture of the game, though, Edmonton went on another run to start the second quarter and Crusaders found themselves in another hole down 18, 47-29.

“We just didn’t make the right decisions during that stretch”, said coach Olesen. “Defence starts everything for us, and we were a little flat footed. I know we only had six players, but that early in the game there’s no excuse for not playing our best. Maybe mentally we had prepared ourselves that only having six guys out there was an acceptable excuse, I don’t know. I do know Brad Smith stepped up as a leader at that point and things changed”.

To cap off the quarter and go to half time with a chance to get back into the game Crusaders again shut the Storm out on defence and Lyons, Smith and Currat got to the basket for layups, bringing the score to 49-37 at the half.

In the third quarter the Crusaders defence was back on track but they weren’t able to eat into the Edmonton lead. The teams would trade baskets for the whole quarter with Crusaders never getting closer than 10 and the Storm never going up more than 15. At the end Crusaders still found themselves down 12, 66-54.
During the last 10 minutes Crusaders made their last charge, as Brad Smith went on a 12 point tear, while defence kept the Storm to only two points. Now within striking distance Crusaders twice got within one point on a layup from Kalil Irving and a three pointer by James Harris, but both times the Storm answered with a basket and Crusaders were never able to take the lead.

“When you play a game like this the margins are very thin”, said Olesen. “If we have just a little bit more luck we take the lead and mentally things look better. With so few players it’s tough to having to keep chasing the lead, it just mentally wears you out. In the end we made a push for it, but we fell just short”.

In the last two minutes Crusaders only hit two of six free throws and that allowed Edmonton to open up a gap Crusaders weren’t able to close. With 40 seconds left the Storm was up by seven, and Crusaders fouled to stop the clock, but as Jegede hit four straight free throws Edmonton Storm picked up the win, 93-83.