The Body & Mind Kent Crusaders lost their home game this Saturday to the Cardiff Celts, who currently reside second in the league. The Crusaders lost 77-64 as a shorthanded Crusaders team had to bow to a better team.

Cardiff built a 5 point lead in the first quarter, as they hit a three pointer at the buzzer to go up 20-15. The away side also started the second quarter well, as they hit three three-pointers to build a 39-25 lead. But with a full bench and on their home court, Crusaders were never going to be easy to beat. They rallied after a poor start to the quarter and closed to within four points of Cardiff on the back of a 12-2 run, including two three pointers from James Harris, to close out the first half.

Cardiff came out a changed and much more aggressive and physical team after the intermission. They held the Crusaders to two points for the first five minutes of the half, as they build a 14 point advantage. The home team cut it back to 9 points, but had to concede a 12 point disadvantage, 58-46, going into the fourth quarter.

In the fourth quarter the Crusaders started playing physical with the away side, as some rough play was allowed, but they were unable to get closer than 11 points, as the experienced Cardiff side moved the ball well and played good defence.

”We were without Damian Lyons, out with a family emergency, and obviously Robbie Parker is still injured, and they both mean a lot to our team”, said Crusaders Head coach Mads Olesen after the game. ”Those two players have proved to be important to us time and time again, with their toughness and scoring, and having them both out was just too much to overcome against one of the best teams in the league. The rest of the team played their guts out, I thought, but we just played a good, disciplined team, that made very few mistakes”.