GBWBA LEAGUE 2011/12
Weekend 1, 29 & 30 October
On Friday 28th October a new look Knights team met up at Belfast International Airport, for their first away weekend and play their first two league matches of Season 2011/12.
Having agreed to play in the Great Britain First Division North to assist the British Wheelchair Basketball National Team preparations for the upcoming season and Paralympics the Knights inevitably lost some key players Matthew “Mookie” Rollston to Oldham Owls, Paul “Nelson” McKillop to Sheffield Steelers and Jason “Kerby” Kennedy to Wolverhampton Rhinos. The Knights therefore had to recruit from their Development Squad bringing in some emerging talent, Cameron Campbell, Eimear MacSorley (for her first season) who joins her brother James MacSorley in the Senior Team, Calvin Watson and Mark Fenton.
Following a flight from Belfast to Liverpool with two enthusiastic supporters (Naomi and Patricia) the Knights drove to Sheffield Meadowhall Premier Inn for a good night sleep.
Saturday 29th October 11.00am the team travelled the short distance to Northern General Hospital for the match with Sheffield Steelers.
Player/Coach Steve ‘Lefty’ McAleese started with a strong five, the experience of James MacSorley, Dave ‘Frosty’ McAleese, Steve ‘Lefty’ McAleese and Chris ‘The Mammy’ O’Neill combined with a start on his debut for Cameron Campbell.
The first quarter was very close with Steelers getting on the board first but the Knights were determined not to let them get away lightly and with some good play by Frosty, Chris and James all knocking down their shots the first ended 15 – 13 in favour of the home side Sheffield Steelers.
At the start of the second a few defensive lapses combined with missed opportunities and free throws the Knights let the Steelers build a six point lead. But some good play, by the Bash sorry, The McAleese Bros. and James making sure he knocked down some good baskets, made sure the lead did not grow. H/T 29 – 23 Steelers.
As in previous years the Knights had their usual third quarter slump and allowed Steelers to do some damage. In the third quarter with Frosty and James scoring a basket each and Lefty missing his two free shots the Knights only racked up four points compared to Steelers twelve. ¾ score 41 – 27.
The Knights came out in the fourth quarter fighting determined to close the 14 point gap in the hope of their first win of the season, but fell short by 6 points. The Knights players repaired all their defensive lapses and led by Lefty, Frosty, Chris and James made sure their shots counted. The Knights were unfortunately due to a scoreboard error were denied a win. Lefty made some changes to let the bench players get some court minutes subbed Frosty and Chris out for a rest as we were behind apparently behind by ten. With less than a minute remaining the table realised that the score differential should be six points but it was too late to sub Frosty and Chris back into the game. Final Score 47 – 41.
Player/Coach Lefty said “this was a very close hard battle between the two teams that could be battling for 1st Division North top spot come the end of the season. I am proud of how all the guys worked hard and didn’t give up to bring the game back in an attempt to get the win. Let’s look forward to tomorrow’s match against Leeds Spiders and the rest of the season one game at a time”.
Leading Scorers:
Lefty – 14, Frosty – 11, James – 10, Chris – 06.
On Sunday 30th October the Knights met a new opponent in the Leeds Spiders. They were a confident looking team after an overnight stay in Bradford South Premier Inn. This turned out to be a much easier match for the Knights who were helped by some local support in the shape of relatives of the McAleese’s. In this match all players got their name on the scoresheet, Calvin scoring all opportunities that came his way, Mark scored but also got his name in the fouls section of the score sheet by almost crushing one of the Spiders against the wall.
Coach Lefty started this match with the same starting five as the day before in Sheffield. The Knights took a while to get going in this match and lost some very easy silly fast break baskets to the Spiders who went on a 6-2 run. The Knights started to get in form led by the McAleese Bros and Chris and after a time out adapted a 3-1-1 full court press. Frosty, with a good interceptions as the Spiders attempted to get the ball over half way with some long passes, got the first basket of the match for the Knights. This along with some very good offences and defence allowed the Knights to take control of the match and accumulate an 8 point lead after the first quarter. Cameron got his first basket playing in Great Britain 1st Division for the Knights. End of first quarter 12 – 20 in favour of Knights.
In the second quarter the Knights continued the same way they finished the first by applying full court pressure and holding the Spiders to just 3 points in this quarter and also making sure they scored their opportunities. In the second quarter the scoring was spread well across the floor with James, Frosty and Lefty scoring 6 points each with Chris scoring the extra 4 points. H/T: 15 – 42.
In the last two quarters the Knights the Spiders tired allowing the Knights to make a lot of easy interceptions and fast break scores. This was when Chris found his hot hand and started knocking down the baskets, along with some assistance by Lefty and James with Calvin adding an extra 2 points on the board. Frosty started the third quarter getting the first 3 points with a layup and 1 free throws before he turned just like his nickname and went cold. Coach Lefty took the opportunity to give all players valuable court time and played his bench. Final Score 25-84 Knights (1st win of Season).
After the match Coach Lefty said, “when you lose key players and have to adapt to new players coming up from the development squad it’s sometimes a slow process getting everyone up to speed on the plays and defence. We have quite a young team which we hope will help us during the season against some of the older players we will come up against. But over the whole weekend getting beaten by 6 points to Sheffield and coming out today not letting yesterday’s defeat affect us we have made sure teams will take notice and realise we are here and mean business to win the 1st Division”.