The
Junior Lions entered this game
knowing that their Play-off
place was secure but the North
East Conference Title and Home
Court advantage in the Play-offs
was at stake. Standing between
them and the 2010 Championship
was a tough Bradford Dragons
team that had already beaten the
Lions twice this season and
indeed were the only team to
have a winning record against
them.
The home team were up for the
challenge and came out fired up
from the tip, the tough defence
which has been a feature of the
whole season was evident from
the start, with Jordan Nicholls
and Dan Brown shutting down the
top of the zone and Marshall
Paterson, Shane Beadle and James
Parkin forming an impenetrable
wall at the back. The offence
was proving just as effective
with Nicholls threading the
needle with full court passes
finding the impressive Paterson
who dominated early proceedings
for the first six points of the
game. The pair then linked up
again with Nicholls finding
Paterson open for a 3 pointer.
Nicholls was next to register
points for the home team after
stealing the ball at the top of
the key and taking it full court
under pressure.
At the mid way point of the
first quarter Danny Chirnside
checked in and immediately
contributed with an offensive
rebound and put back to put the
Lions up 13-0. With six minutes
played the visitors had not
registered on the score sheet
until Forbes hit a 3, but this
only galvanised the Lions who
stepped it up even more with a 3
from Nicholls followed by an And
1 from Brown after being fouled
on the drive and then adding a
tear drop from the base line.
Chris Chapman registered his
first points from a fast break
to complete a 10-0 run, with
only seconds remaining in the
quarter Bradford managed a
basket from inside the paint to
leave the score at 23-5 at the
end of the quarter but the tone
had been set the Lions Defence
was solid and the Offence was
flowing well the superiority of
the home team had been
established and it looked
unlikely to be broken.
The second quarter was a closer
affair but the same tough
defence was evident with nothing
being given up cheaply, David
Budd got the scoring started for
the Lions with the other points
being shared between Chapman,
Chirnside and Alan Slasor.
Parkin was having an influential
game under the boards but the
home team were being lead by
Nicholls and Paterson, the
former was distributing the ball
brilliantly with vision and
control and Paterson was
dominating the boards at both
ends and blocking out shots and
scoring at will, the half time
score was 39-20 in favour of the
Lions.
The second half continued in the
same manner with the tough
Defence setting the tone
regardless of the home team line
up. The Dragons could not
establish a foot hold in the
game with the lead extending to
as much as 27 in the third
quarter. Shane Beadle registered
his first points being in the
right place at the right time on
3 occasions to finish off 3 fast
breaks, the scoring was being
spread around the whole team and
despite the Bradford full court
press the Lions were
comfortable. Oliver Clarke and
Hamza Askari both two years
younger than the rest of the
team, added valuable minutes to
ensure the whole squad
contributed to the win and the
final score of 70 -56 did not
accurately reflect the dominance
shown by the Lions.
Nicholls
had an excellent game at point
orchestrating the offence
finishing with double figure
assists, Parkin was as tenacious
as ever and Marshall Paterson who
dominated at both ends to cap
off another great team
performance. Patterson led all
scorers with 21pts and added a
host of rebounds and blocks.
Coach Nicholls said after the
game "This reflects the
improvement of every member of
the squad over the season, they
have worked hard to maintain a
100% home record and have only
lost three games in total, fully
justifying their first ever
league Title."
The team now hold home court
advantage in the first round of
the playoffs and welcome North
West League runners up Barrow to
Middlesbrough allowing no rest
for the Lions, but with the
young guns in a confident mood
and producing the best
basketball of their season, the
next game couldn't come sooner!
Club Chairman, James Thomson was
full of praise after the game
"Our juniors are the pride of
the club this season. With so
much to do, I have not been able
to attend as many games as I
would have liked, which makes
these occasions even more
special. Well done Sid, Stuart
and the team."
Lions:
Patterson 17,
Brown 10, Parkin 8,
Chapman 7, Chirnside 7, Beadle
6, Nicholls 5
