Posted on April 28th, 2014

West Craven Turbines vs. Burnley Magpies – Hyndburn League Plate Final

After last week’s hard thought victory against Leyland Lions, West Craven Turbines faced off against the veteran team Burnley Magpies in what was always going to be an intense and thrilling Hyndburn League Plate Final. Turbines had recently hit some current form with wins against Hyndburn and Leyland in the previous rounds, with that in mind the team was full of confidence going into this game. Turbines however, having been in this final in the year of 2012, where despite the presence of danger man Oliver Hylands Turbines were piped away by an excellent shooting Ribby Hall Jets. The odds were against Turbines as they could not roster Hylands and have also never beaten Magpies. This game the Turbines were led by shooting guard Pete Marshall who would prove to be just as valuable as Hylands with the capability of his. Marshall was followed by keen forwards such as new signing Raul Gonzalez and Roman ‘Dragon’ Bradshaw and with Turbines regulars Renko Ireton, Ben Capps, Peter Robinson, Phil Smith and Daniel Widdup who were all determined to gain their first silver wear at the club.

Turbines started out with the starting five from the previous games that had settled comfortably in the competition. However, the scoring early on came from the Magpies who not only had experienced players on court but young and athletic guards, such as Liam Holt, who were keen to get on the score sheet early on. A dry spell from the Turbines was ended by a series of power moves inside from Marshall who, despite the rest of the team’s efforts, was the only Turbines scorer in the first quarter coming away with 12 of his own. A good quarter from Magpies saw them take an early lead and go 19-12 up.

A change into the second quarter saw Turbines bring on centre forward Gonzalez who made an immediate impact going inside to score six unanswered baskets only to be followed by Capps driving to the hoop to help Turbines take a lead early on in the quarter. Magpies would then reply as the second quarter became even at both end s of the court with Smith, Capps and Gonzalez all scoring for the Turbines, despite this and the fact Turbines won the quarter they still trailed and at this point the game could have gone either way with Magpies being up 3 points at the half with the score at 29-26.

After the half time discussion Turbines went out with the mind set of to keep going and playing simple efficient basketball. However, a laps on defence from the Turbines saw Magpies star point guard Donal Cummings take full advantage and hit the team with a series of drives followed by a deep three that took Magpies into a comfortable 15 point lead. A time out from Turbines was to be called to increase the defence intensity of the players and encourage the importance of scoring retaliation of the offence. The determination was clearly still there as Turbines had a long way to come back into the game which started with forcing forwards Marshall and Gonzalez forward to go to work as they earned 11 points between them in a comeback which led to the Magpies lead being cut to just 8 points by the end of the third quarter with the score at 45-37.

At this point Turbines had to push on and keep Magpies from scoring as only the fourth quarter stood in the way of Magpies becoming the victors of the night. The first players to set off scoring were Marshall and Gonzalez who were superb at both ends of the court for Turbines all night. The defence intensity stepped up into fifth gear for the Turbines as Marshall and Robinson worked together to keep free scoring guard Cummings at bay. This would lead to Marshall taking control at the offensive end scoring a three off the glass to give Turbines their first lead since the second quarter. However, West Craven did not stop there as Robinson earned points on the fast break and with Widdup finding shooting form Turbines began to capitalize on the Magpies who went down by 10 before making a basket of their own in the fourth quarter. Taking the lead after 10 unanswered successful points, Turbines had to be careful to not let it slip as an effort from Cummings would but the pressure on the new leaders, however, a crucial score came from Ireton who found his form at the free throw line to keep the Turbines comfortable lead running smoothly. With a long three minutes left on the clock Magpies kept the pressure on simply by allowing Cummings the ball as he went to the free throw line four times with the Magpies last effort to snatch a win. However, it became too late for the Magpies with the Turbines being the dominant force in the fourth quarter and taking the win with an astonishing 28-10 4^th quarter. At 65-55 Turbines had beaten Magpies for the first time taking their first trophy by winning the Hyndburn League Plate.

An incredibly intense and end to end game accompanied by a great atmosphere saw Turbines take a well-earned Plate title with commiserations to Burnley Magpies who put on a impressive show that took Turbines right to the wire. After such a bad spell in the league with injuries and number issues Turbines was able to forget their recent troubles with an excellent end to an up and down season. The MVP of the night was Pete Marshall who was unstoppable on offence and kept the Magpies within distance throughout the dry spells of the game. Another shout out goes to Raul Gonzalez for his huge impact on the Turbines in his first season this year, scoring 16pts in the final and collecting perhaps the most rebounds on the team. Also a great season from Coach/player Renko Ireton, Captain Phil Smith, Ben Capps, Pete Robinson, Dan Widdup, rookies Jack Wellings (who unfortunately couldn’t make the final) and Roman ‘Dragon’ Bradshaw. Massive thanks to all who have supported Turbines in the final and through the season being a huge part of the West Craven Turbines successes.

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