Posted on February 12th, 2013

West Craven returned to the court this week for the first time since their double overtime defeat against LT Utd four weeks ago so their was a lot of enthusiasm to get back in action. This was the second meeting of the two sides this season with Turbines previously coming out on top in a close victory back in November. The only difference to the team from the last fixture was this time Turbines had forward Dawson and guard Smith providing more opportunities on the bench.

The Turbines started out the game with early scoring with Pete Robinson driving to the basket and Pete Marshall and Ben Capps scoring from long range, Capps hitting the 3 to open with a 7pt lead forcing Hyndburn to call the time out. Hyndburn then came back into the game with an array of good shooting which saw the score 10-13 at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter would see Hyndburn take off from 3pt land in contrast the Turbines struggled to find any constructive offence however they still managed to score in transition as Capps provided Robinson with a couple of fast break opportunities. The quarter closed out with a second open jump shot from Turbines forward Dan Widdup to take the team into the half down by 6pts 31-25.

With Renko Ireton and Widdup now on the bench it was up to the younger players in Jake Dawson and Rob Lonsdale to keep pace however both struggled to close out the Hyndburn 3pt shooters Mark Crockford and Matt Ellmore. The only highlight of the first 5mins of third for the Turbines was an amazing coast to coast move from Phil Smith to which we are now becoming accustomed to. Now with a 19pt lead Hyndburn were looking good as Ireton re-entered the game shortly after Widdup to help spearhead a comeback with a big increase from defensive intensity from the Turbines and regular scoring from Marshall and Capps managed cut the Hyndburn lead to 55-42 with 10mins to go and with West Craven having been in this position before the game was far from over.

The Turbines fighting spirit shone through as the fourth quarter began along with a much needed increase in pace Marshall started to take over inside and so began to creep back into the game. Hyndburn struggled to find any real open shots where as at the other end Ireton and Widdup scored some well executed moves to the basket just before both Capps and Robinson scored on the break to force a time out for Hyndburn with them having possession of the ball and just one minute and twenty seconds left on the clock. Turbines had to get a stop on defence and score at the other end. Playing good defence they had around a minute to score on offence, however, this led to Turbines failing to score and Hyndburn maintaining possession of the ball. Getting another stop the Turbines had to make sure of a score this time as seconds were running out for the fighting team. In the last offence there was twelve seconds left, the game plan became clear as the ball was given to free scoring Marshall who was over guarded by three in the remaining seconds which forced a turnover to end the game with Turbines falling two points short, the final result was 58-60.

A well fought back game that was similar to the previous game against LT however, there’s plenty of improvement to be made at both ends as shot contesting is a priority and needs to be taken onboard by all players. The next Turbines game take place Friday 15^th as the women’s team takes on Blackburn at home.

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