The Kent Crusaders play their first ever Division 2 playoff game on Sunday. Crusaders will play at Birmingham A’s, a very experienced Division 2 side. The game will be played at 3pm.

Crusaders have had an up-and-down season, starting with and undefeated five game streak in the Patrons Cup, followed by a three game losing streak to start Division 2 play. By the last third of the season Crusaders was in third place, having beat top teams Leeds and London Mets, but a three game losing streak saw them fall to fifth, with a likely chance of finishing lower.

A 39 point win in the final game meant Crusaders held on to the fifth place, with the road to the final going through Birmingham A’s and Leeds/NEWI. The eight best teams go to the playoffs, with one playing eight, two playing seven and so on.

“Our chances in the playoffs depend on which team shows up,” says head coach Mads Olesen. “The team that beat Leeds and London Mets can play with anyone, while the team that lost twice to non-playoff team Colchester and once to relegated Northampton can lose to anyone. I’m quietly confident. I think we’ve shown improvement, and team chemistry is getting better and better. On the other hand Birmingham is a really good team, with quality players in every position, and they’ll make it tough for us. They’ve beaten us twice this season, and I’m sure they’d love to make that three for three”.

GAME INFORMATION

Sat. March 28 or Sunday March 29 v. Birmingham A’s – details to be confirmed

BROADCAST INFO
Live game webcast: Not available

SCOUTING Birmingham A’s

The A’s are an athletic team who plays very disciplined offence. They run a lot of set plays, but also has the athleticism to break out of the plays and go to the basket – or just as often kick the ball back out for a three pointer.

The A’s are not depending on any one player for scoring, as their scoring is spread out on the entire team, with nobody averaging more than 20 points per game. They are led by Steven Hansell with 17.4 points per game – and a very impressive 41% from three pointers – and Joel Madourie with 16.7 pointe per contest.

Defensively the A’s are very good, mixing aggressive man-to-man defence with the occational zone defence. They will frequently change defences and use ploys to disguise which defensive tactic they are using. Crusaders must recognise this and counter it playing a strong tactical game.

HEAD-TO-HEAD

Crusaders played the A’s in the first game of the season in Birmingham, which the A’s won by seven, 84-77.

The Crusaders started the game well, and when they ran out to a 23-12 lead it looked like they would be continuing their winning ways from the Patrons Cup, but the home team had other plans. In the second quarter the A’s tightened their inside defence and as the Crusaders had an off night shooting from the outside the hosts were able to tie the game at 32 seven minutes in. At the break the Crusaders were up 5 as they went on a 10-5 run to close out the first half.

In the first four minutes of the third quarter the home team only managed gain one points on the Crusaders, but then the A’s went on a 22-6 run lasting three minutes into the fourth quarter.

“I kept expecting us to come back”, said Olesen of the run, “Even as we were down by ten I just thought that at some point we’d make a run as we have done in all our other games, but it just never materialized. We were just out of sync and at the end we didn’t have the luck needed to come back”.

The guests did manage to score six straight to bring it as close as 64-70 with three minutes left, but a couple of turnovers undid the comeback. Eight points in the last minute for Crusaders brought them within five with 15 seconds left but it was too little, too late for the Kent side.

The Kent Crusaders were unable to come all the way back from a 12 point deficit in the fourth quarter as they lost by three to Birmingham A’s, 80-77.

In the second game, in Canterbury in January, the Crusaders defence was nowhere to be found in the first half as they allowed Birmingham to score 27 points in the first quarter and 23 in the second. Birmingham scored seven three pointers in the first 20 minutes as Hesson, Hansell and Buchanan each made two.

On offence the Crusaders at times looked scared of making mistakes, as each lost ball or missed shot was punished by Birmingham’s athletic players who ran the ball up the court for easy baskets.

Coming out of the halftime break the Crusaders looked improved as they were able to cut down on their mistakes and stop the Birmingham scoring onslaught. Robbie Parker’s three 3-pointers helped bring the deficit down to a manageable six points five minutes into the quarter, 51-57, but then the Crusaders’ scoring dried up. Basket by basket Birmingham build the lead, only interrupted by a Sam Betts basket, and by quarter time the deficit was back up to 12, 66-54.

In the fourth the crowd saw a transformed Crusaders team. It started with Sam Betts taking a charge and on the next possession James Harris hit a three pointer. Suddenly the Crusaders defence was up in the face of the Birmingham players, forcing mistakes, and offensively any tentativeness was gone. Betts cut the deficit further with a couple of free throws and Robbie Parker made a layup and with six minutes left Simon Mitchell’s three pointer cut the deficit to 4, 73-69.

Birmingham’s Mark Jones then made a tough three pointer, but another three point basket from Mitchell cut the deficit back down to four. Birmingham was able to get back up by 6 on a Madourie mid range shot, but again Crusaders responded with a three pointer, this time from Robbie Parker.

Madourie scored again for Birmingham before a series of turnovers by both teams led to a fast break by Birmingham at the end of which Crusaders’ James Harris got hit in the head by an elbow sending him bleeding to the ground.

When the game was resumed after the injury with three minutes left in the game Crusaders looked a bit shaken up, but they managed to get a defensive stop before turning the ball over again. After another defensive stop Simon Mitchell missed a short shot but Sam Betts managed to get the rebound and score.

With a minute left JP Dimandja got to the foul line but the Crusader big man missed both shots. At the other end Madourie missed a shot and with 40 seconds left Crusaders got the ball back. After a good offence Simon Mitchell was in a great position to shoot a three pointer to tie the game, but the ball slipped out of his hands on the way up and Birmingham charged up the floor where Jeff Wadey fouled Robin Hall who missed both his foul shots.

Crusaders got to set up a last play with 12.8 seconds left, but Damian Lyon’s drive to the basket amounted to nothing and Birmingham were able to secure the rebound and run out the clock for a 80-77 win.

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