Posted on October 4th, 2013

West Craven Turbines vs. Blackburn Phoenix 1

West Craven went into this week’s game with great confidence after their first game victory blowing out Leyland Lions. However, the quality of the opponents was unknown as Phoenix had entered two new teams playing in the same league and the title of each team was unmatched with their ability. The Turbines had a number of players missing from this weeks line-up with Oliver Hylands, Ben Capps, Maciej Furga and Sam Binney all unavailable. A decision was made by player coach Renko Ireton to mix up the starting five by replacing Dan Widdup by guard Phil Smith after seizing the opportunity to stake his claim on a major role in the rotation after an positive first game back, also appearing back on the score sheet was Bryn Wiseman returning to the team after a three year break.

As the game commenced it was apparent the opponent was a poorer version of the Blackburn side and was last season’s Hyndburn league team, now the clubs second team.

The Turbines started well getting center forward Gonzalez under the hoop and collecting multiple offensive and defensive rebounds. Turbines also put Marshall on the line as he had a slow start his field goal percentage he began to knock down threes and scoring multiple baskets from inside. It was an unexpected guard who was the star of the first qtr in Phil Smith who took off hitting a number of baseline jump shots. With the ball once again being distributed well by Ireton the Turbines managed to pull out a 12pt lead by the end of the 1^st qtr ending 22-10.

The second quarter saw Turbines guards begin to get well earned points on the offensive end with Smith continuing his fine and Ireton scoring a couple of deep twos. After taking most of the 1^st qtr to get warmed up it was now the turn of Turbines high flyer Pete Marshall to get the hot hand finishing the fist half with 18pts alone. With all the team scoring Turbines took the game to their hands and took a comfortable lead 46-26 going into the half.

The third quarter was clear for Turbines not to step off the gas as they continuously went forward on the break with numeric baskets from Marshall and the fast breaking Pete Robinson on the break with Ireton, Gonzalez and Smith gaining valuable assists extending to a forty point lead. Rebounds and defense became a convincing strategy to get more scores from fast breaks. This carried on through the fourth quarter as they managed to keep their opponents under forty points.

Once the 4^th qtr had begun it was clear that Blackburn had nothing left as the Turbines defence only allowed them to score 2pts in the whole of the 4^th. This was seen as a chance to run the bench but even then the team in white didn’t let up dominating with another 20pts sealing the game with a 85-38 win which now lifts the Turbines to the top of the standings.

The game was well planned and strategically very successful despite the low tally of players. Pete Marshall providing a lot of scoring with 31pts and being the team’s MVP for the second game running. A special mention should go to Pete Robinson who recorded a career high 22pts. Turbines will be expecting to carry on their unbeaten run into next week’s game against Blackburn Phoenix 2 who, like their first team look to be struggling to perform in what is now a very competitive league.

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