Celton Warriors 62 – 47 Ron Smiths Turkeys
With Warriors still not out of the hunt for the title, and relying on other teams dropping points, this was a must win game for them. Equally, Turkeys had the opportunity to lock up their fourth place finish to remain in the top half of the fixture split after next week so were just as motivated. With Warriors struggling for players and missing two key starters, the Turkeys got the early jump through Paul Ellison and Chris Kennish but Kai Kirkham came firing back with some sweet shooting. Turkeys had come with their shooting hats on though, and seemed content to sit back and shoot over the Warriors defence, all their field goals coming from behind the arc in the quarter. The second was a scrappy affair, Kirkham was in the zone and seemingly couldn’t miss from three and those baskets edged Warriors out to a 10 point lead at the half. Turkeys needed an early run to get back in contention but it wasn’t there for them but luckily Warriors were proving equally as reluctant to score and the game was littered with fouls and free throws. Fortunately for Turkeys, and the watching spectators, Ellison caught fire in the later part of the quarter and lead the charge offensively and marshalled a stingy defence that held Warriors scoreless in the final six minutes of the quarter. With just two points in it going into the fourth, Warriors turned to Rick Smith and Wayne Mears who didn’t disappoint with strong plays, but Turkeys wouldn’t let them escape but after an Ellison three brought them within one, Warriors seemed to find another gear and put their defence on lockdown to shut Turkeys out while racking up the points through Mears and Kirkham at the other end. Warriors ran out comfortable winners according to the scoresheet, but this was a tight game only decided in the closing few minutes.
Pokerstars 49 – 36 Giants
Giants are still looking for their first win of the season, and probably eyed up this fixture as a good opportunity given the up and down play of Pokerstars this season but with the shaggy haired beast that is Eric Hibbs returning to the Pokerstars lineup after a long absence, it gave them an enormous advantage inside. Jon Stockton and Hibbs went to work early, playing a nice inside out game that Giants couldn’t cope with and opened up a nice little lead before Harry Goodwin buried a pair of threes to open his teams’ scoring. Coach Kurt Dimelow was making adjustments to his defence and managed to find a way to restrict the opportunities for Hibbs in the second quarter though, but all that focus on one player allowed the mercurial Fred Roman to get some good points up. Quietly plugging away on the offensive end through Goodwin, Joe Ricciardi and Joe Harris, Giants were staying in touching distance and Pokerstars only had an eight point lead at the half. A low scoring third saw guys padding their rebound stats with all the missed shots, but the ones that did go in were shared between the teams and Giants were staring at a ten point deficit for the fourth. This turned out to be another low scoring quarter, despite the swashbuckling early score from David Lyons, but Pokerstars showed some veteran savvy at the point through Darryl Cody and managed to use the shot clock wisely to burn time down to run out winners.
LM Construction Phillies 85 – 46 Marvels
Marvels really needed this one to stand any chance of making the top four final round at the expense of Turkeys, and started strongly, flirting with an early lead before losing it in a burst of Phillie scoring. Marvels came back strong through Nik Cain and James Horton though and retook the lead briefly near the end of the quarter before a late score from Raj Mallorca edged the quarter. The second was equally competitive, Phillies relying heavily on the silky game of Luke Genenza to carry the scoring load while Marvels were much more rounded as scorers. Key baskets from Kyle Mills and David Beggs down the stretch kept this to a four point game at the half and all to play for. However, the second half can only really be termed as a collapse for Marvels, losing the half by an enormous 34 point margin, Geneza and Miguel Carillo the main scoring options for Phillies but a nice even split under them. Toward the end of the game, Revi Del Rosario was scoring threes for fun and Marvels really looked like they couldn’t wait for the final buzzer.
Microgaming Cavaliers 76 – 43 Rams
Rams have shown great improvement over the last few weeks, and Cavs were certainly not taking the game lightly. It was very much cruise control for the current league leaders though, even if they did fall asleep at the wheel in the third while Rams won the quarter 15-10. Sean Doyle had a standout performance for the Cavs, really showing off his inside out game, but player of the game was Mel Valencia for Rams who managed to pull off some breathtaking moves to the basket and enhanced his rising status as a special talent in the league for many years to come.
