TU Lions match report

Lions Aided by Technical Fault!

Tees United Lions 49-42 Richmond Vikings

Lions pulled through with a slender 5 point win to keep the pressure on Hartlepool Hornets and Redcar Mariners. Lions and Vikings were in joint fourth place before this game although the result was far from assured. The Richmond side brought a full compliment of 12 players to match that of the Lions squad and if it wasnt for the late loss of cool by Vikings Ash Farrelly they may have won. Farrelly was awarded a technical foul for in the second quarter after throwing the ball after a basket, which then hit Lions Michael Peddie in the face. In the fourth quarter Farrelly again lost control as he kicked the ball, leading to another technical foul and a third technical for un professional behaviour as he was leaving the court. These technical fouls led to a total of six free throws in the final minute of the game, although only 2 were converted.

The first quarter saw Matthew Norman introduce himself well with the first 4 points of the game. Miles Sayer would take Lions to 5-0 with 1 of 2 free throws after being fouled on his way to the basket, but Richmond were still struggling to score until the fifth minute when Farrelly made a good move inside the key. Nathan Duff and Charlie Collins were introduced to the game shortly after and didn't disappoint with both players playing good defence and Duff finding the basket with a nice shot off the backboard in the sixth minute. Lions ran the bench well in the first quarter with all players taking part and in the eighth minute Katie Lamb hit a good shot to take Lions to 10-2, although with thirty seconds remaining Vikings produced the final shot to double their tally, as it finished 10-4 in the first quarter.

With such a low scoring first period, things would surely improve and they did, slightly for the visitors in what was a very lathargic game with both teams not playing badly, but not playing well either, which would be the theme of the game. Matthew Brown made the opening shot of the second quarter but in the second minute a total loss of concentration led to Vikings amounting a 10-0 run with Ian Donague, Jonathan Rookes and the impressive Farrelly in fine form. With one minute left Lions called a time out to halt the Vikings surge and returned to the court for an 8-2 run in their favour, with Michael Peddie scoring the last two baskets to reclaim the lead, 20-16.

The third quarter was an evenly matched affair, just pipped by Lions, 13-12, although Vikings confidence was increasing. Lions switched to a man to man defence but it was still a case of nothing going really well for either side. Matthew Brown and Michael Peddie combined well for half the teams points but they both missed a number of clear cut chances. Lions frustrations on offence were beginning to build and this led to lapses in concentration on defence, providing the Vikings with too many second shots. Mid way through the third Marshall Patterson returned to the game and immediately raised his game to halt a Richmond 6-0 run. Jack Meredith was excellent for his part collecting 6 points for the Vikings cause, but they still couldn't manage to take the lead with the quarter finishing 33-28.

In the fourth quarter, the depth of Vikings was beginning to show as yet another player; Mark Williams stepped up and hit the first 4 points. Lions replied with Sayer weaving to the hoop and Thomson then hitting the next 8 points but a good performance by Vikings Donague produced 5 rebounds and 4 points, which could have been more had he not missed 3 free throws. Lions' Peddie extended the lead to 5 points with two well worked baskets although even in the final minute Vikings were not out of the game, until Farrelly; their star player, lost his composure leading to 6 free throws for the Lions to seal the win 49-42.

The MVP award was a hard decision as no player really stood out and produced a performance worthy of the title. Collectively the teams were below par and individually, there were far too many mistakes and easy misses. Although their offensive contributions were low, Matthew Norman and in particular Matthew Brown raised their defence in the second half to ensure the Lions win and for his 3 crucial steals in the final four minutes of the game, the MVP award goes to Matthew Brown.