The Body & Mind Kent Crusaders lost away at University of Birmingham, 101-84, in a game that was decided in the last quarter.

The game featured several lead changes through the first half, as the fast paced game featured several runs be both teams. Crusaders played fast in the beginning of the game, running in a lot of points off aggressive defence, but also allowing Birmingham to convert turnovers into easy points. In set offence the Kent side had success shooting close to the basket, going inside to Mike Webber, Steve Findley and Sam Betts. From 3-point range, however, they were stone cold, as they were only able to connect on one long range attempt in the last second of the half, as James Harris evened the score at 42 apiece.

The second half started with a small Birmingham run, as they got the score to 51-44 with four minutes gone. The Crusaders answered with some aggressive defence however, as Rikki Broadmore forced a string of turnovers, but Crusaders were unable to capitalize as they too turned the ball over or failed to hit their layups. The score before the final quarter was 60-54 to the home team.

In the first couple of minutes of the final quarter Crusaders brought it within 2 and 3 on a couple of occasions, but an 11-4 Birmingham run meant that the visitors were facing a 10 point deficit in the last five minutes of play.

The Kent side tried desperately to come back, but nine missed free throws of 13 attempts in the last minutes sealed the Crusaders’ fate, while Birmingham connected on 12 of 15 attempts to secure the victory.

Before the game Crusaders Head coach Mads Olesen had singled out young big men JP Dimandja and Dan Garrad as keys to the Kent defence, but with Garrad unavailable due to an ankle injury suffered late in the week, Birmingham big man and captain Stephen Jones was the deciding factor with 14 points in the four minute span that brought the game from 65-62 to 84-69. “We just didn’t recognise Jones as the game decider he is, and fell asleep a little bit while he stepped up his game big time to get the victory. He’s a great player, and we have to give him credit for that”, said Olesen after the game.

The Crusaders had an awful shooting night, connecting on only two outside attempts after making nine the previous week. “I think the bottom line is that we need to make some outside shots to open up the inside”, said Olesen, “Also we probably played some players too much so they were tired late in the game, and that’s one I’ll put on my own shoulders. Looking forward we need to do more work to get our shooters the shots they need”.