The Medway Park Crusaders Under 14 team played another 2 away games of the season in Westminster on Sunday 22^nd November.

The first game was against Hertfordshire Warriors.

Crusaders started this game extremely well, attacking the Hertfordshire basket and playing great defence at the other end. They managed an 8 point advantage at the end of the first quarter (13-5).

The second quarter was very much the same with again Crusaders limiting Hertfordshire to 5 points and putting up 20 themselves. The half time score was 33-10 to Crusaders.

Coach Matt Fenton’s men finished the game off in the third quarter yet again stopping Hertfordshire from scoring but continuing to run their offence and finished the third quarter 41-15 up.

Coach Fenton could rest players for the second game and the players that came on did a great job of containing the opposition and Crusaders finished the game 50-19 winners.

Coach Matt Fenton said “This weekend we has another tricky double header away to London Pioneers and Hertfordshire Warriors. The first game against top of the table Hertfordshire proved much easier than expected as Crusaders came out flying, leading 33-10 at the half. Excellent defensive displays from Tyler Russell, Tom Miller and Liam Carpenter meant that we had forced 4 24 sec violations by the 3rd quarter. In the fourth quarter, James Lloyd and Kyle Vincett came on to score their first points and the game ended up with a convincing 50-19 victory.”

Coach Matt Fenton’s MVP for this game was Tyler Russell.

Next game was against London Pioneers.

Having had a tough close game against Pioneers last weekend, Coach Fenton knew this was going to be a tough game. Crusaders started well and even though they were finding it hard to score, they did a fantastic job in defence and kept Pioneers at bay, finishing the quarter up 9-7.

The second quarter was even tighter with each team only managing to put up 7 points each on the board. The half finished 16-14 in Crusaders favour.

Crusaders worst quarter came in the third, a slight lack of concentration and Pioneers closed the gap to finish the quarter 21-21

However, what a different story the last quarter was, Crusaders came out flying with some good early baskets followed by some great defensive work which frustrated the opposition. This was the breakthrough they were looking for and scored 17 points to 7 in the last quarter to win the game 38-28

Coach Matt Fenton said “The second game was always going to be the more difficult as it was 5 minutes after the first. Yet despite this, Crusaders defence was as solid as ever only conceding 14 points in the first half. It’s really pleasing to see that this season’s focus on defensive principles has really paid off and this is down to the boys’ intensity in training. After a sloppy 3rd quarter the game was tied at 21 a piece, but Crusaders 17 point final quarter performance gave a 10 point victory against a team that is coach by England U15 assistant Coach and included players in the England set up.”

Coach Fenton’s MVP for the second game was Dominic Ives.

Coach Fenton went on to say “Although players should be very happy with the excellent start to the season that we have made, we must all ensure that we do not get carried away as I still believe that we haven’t played the 3 strongest teams in the division yet. (Newham, Buck Hornets and Spelthorne) and this will be where our toughest tests will come.”

Crusaders have extended their winning run with 6 wins out of 6.

They travel away again on the 5^th December to play the return game against Hertfordshire Warriors and also Sevenoaks Suns.

Statistics – Hertfordshire Warriors Game
EBL National League Under 14’s Boys South II Division
Hertfordshire Warriors (5, 10, 15) 19
Medway Park Crusaders (13, 33, 41) 50
Scoring:
Medway: George Fuller 10, Liam Carpenter 9, Tommy Dobson 8

Statistics – London Pioneers Game
EBL National League Under 14’s Boys South II Division
Medway Park Crusaders (9, 16, 21) 38
London Pioneers (7, 14, 21) 28
Scoring:
Medway: Liam Carpenter 13, Tyler Russell 9, Dominic Ives 8

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