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Norton Bulls 70-51 Tees United Lions B

With key players absent from the previous training session for various reasons, some genuine, an opportunity was given to Lions coaching staff to start some of the younger players. Michael Peddie and Brittany Rimsky started after a good display in the overtime win at Richmond and 13 year old Philip Findlay joined Marshall Patterson and Adam Walsh after his recent performances in the schools league and at junior level. Findlay hit 37 points in his recent win for Nunthorpe Lions school team and then collected 18 points for Lions juniors at Richmond. Chris Tappenden, Matthew Norman and Miles Sayer all started from the bench, although Tappenden can be commended for his commitment, as he travelled all the way from Nottingham to play. Sayer was recovering from a back injury and missed training while Norman's reason's are unknown. Norman was also dropped from the starting line up for his college game this week and his performances have not been as good as they should be this season, save his MVP game against Thirsk Thunder in the cup. Therefore a positive reaction was sought from the players given the opportunity to play and those who had lost their starting spots.

 

The game started with Michael Peddie scoring on a fast break after receiving the pass from Adam Walsh. Norton were quick to respond via Mark Finmore to tie the game and this score would stay the same for the next five minutes. Lions young and small team were understandably nervous on offence but their defence was superb and the players chosen justified their starting places. It wasn't until the seventh minute that Bulls took the lead through a shot from Raymond Jackson, Although this was quickly countered by Peddie and another strong drive to tie the game 4-4. In the eighth minute Craig Hopwood and Finmore combined to provide some breathing space and the introduction of Tappenden for Lions gave the youngsters a bit of security. The Lions magic started to fade in the final minute as Finmore hit a 3 pointer followed by a fast break. Tappenden found the nest in the dying seconds to bring the scores to 14-6 at the end of the quarter.

 

Craig Hopwood followed on from a good start, hitting his first two shots to give the home team a 10 point lead. Tappenden went to the line in the second minute for 1 of 2 free throws but a 7-0 run for Bulls would test Lions resolve as their good start now seemed a distant memory and ironically it was now the regular starters who were back involved in the game. From this point on the second quarter was very much basket for basket with both teams finding their scoring rhythm and at the half time buzzer Norton were leading 33-21. A combined effort in the eighth minute between Lions Tappenden, Walsh and Sayer brought the visitors back into the game, after scoring a 7-0 run.

 

In the third quarter Finmore was again proving his worth as he opened with a 3 pointer and then followed in another fast break. Tappenden and Peddie responded but not consistently enough while Norton were finding the net through Rob Ivey and Rob Talbot. In the fourth minute there was an altercation between Bulls' Ivey and Lions' Tappenden which resulted in a foul on Ivey and an unsportsmanlike foul on Tappenden for retaliation. In the sixth minute Tappenden picked up his fourth foul forcing him to be rested. Marshall Patterson was brought back into the game and passed the ball to Walsh who hit a 3 pointer, only to hurt his shoulder shortly after which would remove him from the game. With the scores at 47-29 a time out was called by Lions coach, James Thomson.

 

The starting five that re-entered the game were 12 yr old Alan Slasor, 13 yr old Dan Brown, 14 yr old Marshall Patterson with the two oldest players being Sayer and Norman at 16 & 17 respectively. These players went on to produce an awesome display of basketball against their much bigger, stronger and more experienced opposition. The young line up brought the best out of Matthew Norman who collected 4 blocks in the last three minutes of the third quarter. Norman was also potent on offence as he hit 8 points in those final three minutes to bring Lions back into the game with the scores at 54-38.

 

The same five players started the final quarter with the big names of Tappenden, Walsh and the high scoring Peddie remaining on the bench, not because they were playing poorly, but because the youngsters were playing so well. Another basket for Norman set Lions off on the right track and young Dan Brown was next to score with a cool finish under the basket. In the third minute Sayer hit a floating jump shot to bring Lions within 12 points of Norton, who were now genuinely worried. With a few minutes remaining, Norman picked up his third foul and Brittany Krimsky was brought back into the game. Lions continued to work hard for everything possible and such was there efforts that Brown, Slasor and Patterson played the remainder of the game. Patterson came to life on offence, attacking the Norton defence and taking good shots while Slasor and Brown pestered the Norton offence into making mistakes.

 

In the final minute though the experience of Norton pulled away with another 5 points including a 3 pointer from Mark Finmore to seal the win. Marshall Patterson hit the final shot for Lions and even though they lost by 19 points, Lions can take a lot of credit for such a good performance, especially from their younger players.

 

The MVP was awarded to the top scoring Mark Finmore of Norton Bulls. Craig Hopwood was also in consideration after one of his best performances of the season. Matthew Norman produced a starting finish for Lions and helped to bring them back in the game.

Teams   Bulls Lions B 23 33 24 31 14 35 22 10 21 25 Mark Finmore* Raymond Jackson Liam Earl* Rob Ivey* John Young* Craig Hopwood Rob Talbot Darren Butler Ben Shaw* Graham Bennett 3 10 14 17 18 22 23 26 30 32 45 50 90 Michael Peddie* Philip Findlay* Marshall Patterson* Charlie Collins Lizzy Walsh Miles Sayer Dan Brown Alan Slasor Brittany Krimsky* Matthew Norman Adam Walsh* Nathan Duff Chris Tappenden Coach: Darren Butler Asst Coach: Captain: Mark Finmore Coach: James Thomson Asst Coach: Captain: Adam Walsh * starting players   Referees Dave Murphy & Mark Rhodes/Mark winter (second half)

Game MVP: Mark Finmore, Norton Bulls   Top Scorers Lions: Finmore 31, Hopwood 12, Bennett 8, Young 6, Ivey 5, Shaw 3, Talbot 3, Jackson 2   Heat: Norman 11, Sayer 11, Tappenden 10, Peddie 7, Walsh 6, Brown D 4, Patterson 2

 

 

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