Match Reports
Men's Division 1
Hartlepool Heat a 68 v Teesside Hornets A 105
Robinson 19, Errington 15 Moore 29, Luke Thompson 28
Heats first game of the season sees them turn out only 6 players so this was always going to be a very hard game against Hartlepool's town derby club Teesside Hornets who had a full bench of 12.
After a very scrappy first quarter 18-18.
Hornets came out in the 2nd to press Heat and with a 11-26 quarter still gave Heat a glimmer of hope 29-44 down.
Hornets didn't let up on their superior display of basketball, 19-30 and 20-31 quarters eased Hornets comfortably into their first Durham win of the season, with a good debut from new signing Michael Thompson (19) and fantastic shooting/driving displays from Moore and L. Thompson with some power dunks from Anyigbo (10).
S.C.M. Supersonics 91 v 62 Wear Valley Warriors
Butler 17, Finmore 16 Graham 15, Anderson 21
Sonics dominated the start with a 3 from Colmer and they went 13 – 4 up after 6 mins but Warriors settled passed the ball better Anderson hit 6 on the boards and they were only 5 down.
Sonics went hard from the whistle pressured well in defence and Butler caused problems from point hitting 5 pts and after four mins were 10 up.Graham hit good points from distance but found little backup and by the half they were 14 down.
Graham kept WV in the game scoring 9pts but Sonics were on a roll McLaughlin scored 7 pts and has given the Sonics side more depth along with Colmer and they led by 20.
Sonics stifled the WV offence in the final quarter with McIntyre and Burton enjoying scoring from distance and in 6 mins the lead was 32. A flourish at the end from WV helped the score but they scored only 13 pts in the final quarter.Butler led from the front and was MVP for Sonics while Graham was rewarded for WV.
Hartlepool Heat A 94 V 87 Wear Valley Warriors
Robinson 34 Ord 13 Graham 12 Thompson 32
WV settled quickly and hit shots from way out to lead 10 – 2 after 5 minutes. Robinson and Dixon hit back with 3s before 3 frees in the final minute saw the teams end the quarter level.
Heat went inside and out with Robinson scoring 5 and Errington 4 on the boards to lead by 1 after 4 minutes as WV struggled from outside with Thompson the only one finding his range. Heat were soon 5 up with another 3 from Dixon and WV were still trying from outside but were having no luck. WV forced errors and on the break they cut the deficit to 1 after 8 mins. Robinson hit back with a 3 and Heat ended the period 8 up.
Both sides were playing tough defence but Robinson hit 2x 3s to put Heat 11 up.WV hit back again a pressing 3 – 2 caused turnovers and they whitted down the difference to 1 in the 9th min. Heat were off the boil and it was a good job Robinson hit 11 in the period.
It was end to end with WV always playing catch up but they were not giving up. With 3 minutes to go they were 3 up but WV had Scott and Stephenson scoring well and the gap was 1, Ord and Robinson both went to the line in the final minute but they both missed 1 free and Thompson levelled the game with a second left and it was overtime.
Both sides hit 3s and it was still level after 3 minutes. WV lacked a team strategy to gain points while Heat forced WV to foul went to the line and scored 7 from 13 while in the final 2 mins WV were only able to score 6 pts. It was a real 3point shoot out with Thompson hitting 4 for his MVP while Robinson hit 7 for his.
Sunderland Uni 67 v 82 Hartlepool Heat A
James 27, Fraser 13, Elwick 12. Ord 21,Robinson 17,Errington 16
Uni began well with Fraser and Clough scoring from outside while Dixon and Robinson hit 3s for Heat as they ended the quarter level.
Heat got to grips with the Uni attack forced them to take shots under pressure. James inside and Elwick on the break scored 10 pts between them but Heat turned it up and by the half they led by 10. Going inside and out Heat created better situations and finished better.
Uni points were drying up with only James able to score inside and they lacked cohesion while Heat ran the floor and the bench with Ord finishing well driving inside. The Uni man defence was being breached as they lacked height and Heat went to big guys inside whenever possible.
Uni kept on going the whole period but lacked match practice as they have not being together for long. Heat did not have it their own way and it was only the last 3 mins that they felt in control of their own destiny.James was outstanding for Uni while Ord was given the MVP for Heat finishing the breaks well and always being available on the dump off to score 21 pts for Heat.