10/10/11 - Hemel Storm have made it seven wins in a row over the weekend after squeezing
past London Eastside by six points in a Patrons Cup pool game on Saturday, and then
giving a superb defensive effort on Sunday to contain a powerful and athletic Birmingham
Mets squad and win by 22 points in a second round National Cup clash in front of
a near capacity crowd at Sportspace.
We rested Drew Spinks, Lee McCarthy, Bode Adeluola, and Rich Wellings on Saturday
having already qualified for the Patrons Cup knockout stage.
Led by 26 points from the impressive Tom Frederick, we fought back from a five point
half-time deficit to overhaul Eastside in the third quarter and then survive an end-of-game
revival by the Londoners to hang on for the win. Our Associate Head Coach Tony Harrison
coached the game while Head Coach Dave Titmuss travelled to Birmingham to scout them
in preparation for Sunday's match.
On Sunday we just edged each of the first two quarters and we had our work cut-out
to contain the inside play of Mets' Franco Kouagnia and Alan Bean. But we had little
trouble with the visitors' press. We might have shot poorly but we were still able
to take a six point lead into the locker room, 42 - 36.
In an efficient, committed and crowd-pleasing third quarter, we built on our half-time
six point edge holding the visitors to 14 points while all five Storm players
who started the second half - Adeluola, Harper, Frederick, Kearney and Spinks - contributed
to a 24 point haul.
Spinks played his first minutes for us this season having broken his foot in the
preseason and netted 16 points for our balanced attack. The diminutive Adeluola orchestrated
Storm's offence superbly from the backcourt and typified our unselfish team play.
Some defensive lapses early in the fourth quarter brought a time-out from Titmuss.
We regrouped and controlled the final period as three-pointers from captain Simon
Kearney and Andy Harper pushed the lead out to 20 points.
Our leading scorers v London Eastside: Frederick 26, Harper 19, Dawes 16; and v Birmingham
Mets: Harper 21, Adeluola 17, and Spinks 16.
