After a disappointing loss to Northumbria last week, the Crusaders found the tough, physical play of Leicester difficult to cope with and ran out losers by eleven points to the in-form Warriors side.

In the last away game of the regular season Kent looked as though they had forgotten what it was like to play on the road. It took some time for players to settle into the game and deal with the physical attack that Leicester subjected to them on both the offensive and defensive end of the court. In the first quarter only Rafal Sojczynski was able to find a way through the Leicester big men with any consistency, getting a couple of neat put-backs following missed shots and using his superior footwork to get to the rim. However, Kent suffered from being undersized in the key and Leicester were able to get too many cheap scores to take an early lead 15-11

The second quarter was much of the same early on. Crusaders misses piled up and Leicester were able to get out quickly on the fast break and make the most of their size around the hoop. Coach Olsen was forced to call a time out with Leicester up by 11, 26-15. Kent went into a zone defence to try and negate the opposition big men. It started to pay off with Leicester not being able to control the tempo of their offence. Simon Mitchell put pressure on the Warrior’s guards and pushed the ball quickly down the floor into offence. Captain Pete Ayling put in a strong performance picking off several offensive rebounds and knocking down a mid-range jump shot and a three pointer under pressure. The continued good play of Sojczynski combined well inside with Sam Betts who was able to weave his way to the hoop and Soren Sorenson who powered his way through Leicester’s big men. The resurgence meant that the Crusaders went into half time with a chance, only down 31-23.

The third quarter started with the Crusaders determined to be ready from the tip. A three pointer by Parker and a neat penetration by Ayling fed JP Dimandja who finished under the hoop taking the lead to three points. Leicester started a fight back looking to take advantage of their size under the hoop and with O’Neal and Martin hitting jump shots they brought the lead back to 10, 38-28. The Crusaders looked like they were running out of gas when Simon Mitchell started to show his class. He was able to able to penetrate the Leicester defence or find the open man for an uncontested jump shot, and over the next four minutes Crusaders slowly reined in the Leicester lead and got it within four points with two minutes left in the quarter. The highlight of the run was an unbelievable 4 point play from James Harris, who was knocked clean off his feet but still connected on a long 3.

The Crusaders looked like they were poised to go on a run but the next thirty seconds would prove fatal for their hopes of winning the game. First a good Leicester offence led to a Martin three pointer, then he repeated the feat off a missed box-out on a Leicester shot, and to add insult to injury Janiska then hit a totally uncontested fast break three pointer to get the lead back to 13, 53-40.

“It was just a short lapse of concentration”, said Crusaders head coach Mads Olesen, “but at this level you just can’t take any plays off or you’ll get punished. Every time we took plays off Leicester punished us with runs. We’d get almost all the way back and it would happen again, and in the end we just didn’t have the final comeback in us”.

Leicester got the first point of the fourth quarter on a free throw, but then the Crusaders started trying to come back another time. Over the next five minutes Crusaders held Leicester to one baskets and a couple of free throws and two quick 3 pointers for Parker and a Mitchell layup brought the Kent side to within 5 of the lead with five minutes left to play.

The final comeback wasn’t to be, however, as a series of turnovers handed Leicester the ball time and time again, and Thomas got to the foul line for six straight free throws on consecutive plays. With less than three minutes again the lead was back to ten.

To their credit the Kent side refused to quit. Scores by Betts, Harris and Mitchell got them within six in the final minute, the Kent side was unable to connect on open three pointers and in the end the final score was 72-63.

After the game Pete Ayling said, “It’s tough to take a loss when you think you could have played harder for some of the game especially defensively. We took too long to get into the game and switched off for a few possessions in the third quarter. In the end, that’s what cost us. At this level you can’t afford to play defence for 35 minutes.”

Crusaders can still finish anywhere from third to eight in the league. Having beat Leicester by 12 in Canterbury, Kent have the tie-breaker against the Warriors who now have to face the unenviable task of playing Leeds and London Met before the end of the season. However Birmingham A’s and Team Northumbria, who both own the tie-breaker against Crusaders, are also on pace to finish with 14 wins and 8 losses, in which case Crusaders could finish sixth even if they win their last two games.

EBL National League Division 2
Leicester Warriors (15, 31, 57) 72
Kent Crusaders (11, 23, 44) 63

Scoring:
Birmingham: Martin 20, Janiska 12
Kent: Mitchell 11, Parker 10