Men

The men have endured a difficult season to date.  After starting the season full of optimism and aiming for promotion, they have fallen far short of expectations.  After losing their first 6 league games, Mads Olesen decided to step down as head coach, ending a two and year tenure.  James Vear was given the head coaching position and picked up a win in his first game defeating fellow strugglers, Plymouth Marjon.  A loss to Brixton in the final game before Christmas left the men 1-7 and in 9th place – just out of the relegation spots at the break.

Despite their struggles, their have been some bright spots for the men.  Canadian post player Brad Smith has taken the league by storm, as his 26.7 points per game leads the league and 8.2 rebounds per game places him fourth.

James Harris has once again raised his overall game this season and has also been scoring consistently (17.5 points per game).  He became only the thirs Crusader to score 1000 career points and has moved into second place on the Crusaders’ career scoring list, moving past Paul Jessop.  He has also passed Jessop as the club’s career leader in 3 pointers made.

17 year old Kalil Irving has made a smooth transition to senior basketball as the team’s 3rd leading scorer at 9.8 points per game.  He was also selected to play for the England Under 18s over the holidays at a tournament in Manchester as they begin their prepearation for the European Championships this summer.

Jeff Wadey (who is the only original Crusaders men’s player still playing) has rolled back the years and is third in the league in assists per game.

Other milestones reached include Damian Lyons becoming the career leader in free throws made and moving to fifth on the career scoring list and JP Dimandja becoming the career rebounding leader.

Under 18

The under 18s also had a slow start to the season, losing their first 2 league games.  However since then they have established themselves as one of the top teams in the league winning 7 of their next 9 games.  Their 7-4 record gives them the 4th best record in the South Premier league.

They have also reached the quarterfinals of the National Cup, where they will host the Reading Rockets on 17 January.  Thsi matches the club’s best ever achievement in a National Cup.

Academy

The Crusaders Academy based at The Canterbury High School has also had a succesful start to the season.  They have only lost 1 game so far as their 6-1 record in the British Colleges Elite East league places them top of the table.  They are also still alive in the British Colleges Elite Cup, England Basketball Schools Under 19 competition and Kent Under 17 and 19 Cups.

Four of the academy players have played for the men’s team (Kalil Irving, Andy Chiguri, Disraeli Lufadeju and Dave Tait).  Additionally, four of them were selected for the South East regional team (Irving, Chiguri, Lufadeju and Rob Vassie) who were national runners up (with irving scoring 27 in the final).  The regional team was coached by Crusaders coach James Vear.

Under 16

After a slow start where they lost their first two games, the under 16s have recovered winning 3 of their last 4 games to even their record at 3-3.  Considering the number of new players they have brought in, this has been a good start to the season for the under 16s.

Under 14

The under 14s have had a fantastic start to the season, winning all 9 of their league games.  They are top of the table at the break at enter the second half of the season full of optimism.

Four of the players played for the South East team that finished 3rd in the national tournament (Tyler Russell, Liam Carpenter, Dave Couchman and James Lloyd).  The regional team was coached by Crusaders coaches Jesse Sazant and Matt Fenton.