Medway Park Crusaders head coach James Vear looked forward to Saturday’s game with mixed emotions. On one hand he knew the game was winnable, as Plymouth only has three wins for the season, but on the other hand he wasn’t allowed to coach the game because of a one game suspension he incurred for two technical fouls against Birmingham three weeks ago:

“We knew Plymouth would be a tough game on Sat especially as they are in a relegation battle and they would think this was a winnable game. They were also coming off a big win against Westminster the previous weekend. Also knowing I couldn’t coach the game we wanted to make sure we had a good week of practice and home in on the key things we needed to do to win” 

Stepping in for Vear was club president and former head coach Jesse Sazant, who saw Crusaders get off to a bad start with Plymouth taking an early five point lead behind a quick four points from John Peake. 

The home team didn’t panic though, as Sam Betts and James Harris reeled off the next 8 points. Betts was playing especially well early on, getting to the basket with ease and dishing to Brad Smith for a couple of easy scores. Crusaders kept the pressure on and the quarter ended 21-16, Crusaders.

League leading scorer, and Crusaders star, Brad Smith picked up his third foul early in the second quarter, and Sazant elected to sit him down for the rest of the quarter, saving his fouls. This did not seem to effect the team as a rejuvenated Greg Currant came off the bench to score 5 straight points to put the Crusaders up by 9.

The lead was short lived, though, as Plymouth found some rhythm on offense behind Peake and Peard who were a real handful down low. Vear could only look on from his spectators spot: “Their two big guys worked very well together, especially with their back to the basket. We needed to make it harder for them to catch the ball and not let them have the ball where they wanted it”

Marjon would win the second quarter 17 – 15, but Crusaders would go into the half up 36-33.

At the start of the second half the teams traded baskets, with Peake continuing to cause problems for Crusaders. Plymouth did take a lead 2 min into the half but then Crusaders stepped up the defence and the game speed changed. Crusaders reeled off 15 straight points behind 11 from Greg Currant. Keeping the pressure on Crusaders won the third quarter it 31-14 giving the Crusaders a comfortable 20 point lead going into the fourth, 67-47.

Plymouth didn’t give up in the fourth and still continued to attack and apply some full court pressure, but Crusaders dealt with this fairly easily and maintained the lead around 20 points for a final score of 85-67

Vear put the glory on the players and the substitute coach after the game: ” The team came through a tough test tonight. I also wanted to say a huge thank you to Jesse for filling in for me tonight, he is such a good coach he made it look very easy.”