Div 1 Men - League To Be Decided in Reading on Sunday
The EBL Division One Men's title looks set to go down to
the wire as Reading Rockets host Manchester Magic at Rivermead
on Sunday afternoon – tip-off 4pm.
Both teams have home games against sides at the wrong end
of the table on Saturday, with Magic hosting Coventry and
Rockets looking to pile in the misery for the College of West
Anglia Fury.
Rockets must win their game against Fury, while Magic will
make their job easier on Sunday against Reading if they defeat
the Crusaders. Assuming Jeff Jones’ Manchester team
beat Coventry, they can lose by up to six points against Reading
and still clinch the title on the head-to-head rule. A loss
against Coventry would mean Manchester have to win in Reading,
while the Rockets need to win by eight or more points to seal
the title – assuming they’ve beaten Fury.
A seven point Reading win would see the title decided on over
all points difference.
Rockets and Magic have already met twice in Manchester this
season, splitting the series, with the winning margin being
seven on each occasion.
The league meeting saw Magic end Rockets’ perfect start
to the season as they came from behind to win 98-91 in November.
Led by 29 points from Danny Carter, the injury-hit visitors
led for most of the game before a strong fourth period gave
Magic the victory.
With David 'Tin-Tin' Watts adding 27, Rockets led 26-22 at
the first break, and extended that lead to 51-46 at half-time.
Reading also won the third period, 24-22, to take a seven
point lead into the final break, but the Magic side –
who were led by 23 Steven Gayle points – finally stepped
up and outscored the visitors 30-16 to improve their record
to 3-0.
Rockets coach Dave Titmuss appreciates the strength in depth
the Magic have:
"Has Manchester stopped adding players to their roster
this season yet?! They have an extremely deep team and are
pretty much the whole package in terms of how balanced they
are and the different ways they can beat you.
"They do have a couple of things that they're not particularly
good at - I wouldn't exactly call them weaknesses - and for
us to win we must exploit these, but you wouldn't expect me
to tell you in advance what they are and what we intend to
do!
"If they start Gayle, Hilliard, Dwyer, Boonham and Ogilvie,
this gives them great inside/outside balance at both ends
of the floor and they still have key guys coming off the bench
who would probably start in most other teams in Division One
- particularly Gill, Adu, and Rankine.
"Having said that, we've come through so much this season
that we are not about to lie down and let them have the league
title without being seriously challenged. We've found ways
to win all season and I hope this weekend is no different.
"I have a great deal of respect for Jeff Jones - he and
I go back a long way - and the whole Manchester organisation
and if it does come down to Sunday's game being the league
title decider then, personally, I think it is fitting that
the top two clubs in the country are involved in battling
it out."
Magic play-caller Jones is also looking forward to the game:
"It’s a big weekend for both of us. We could lose
on Saturday and still win the next day, but we’d prefer
to go down there with as big a cushion as possible.
"We need to get the win on Saturday and hopefully have
no one injured or over-tired. Steven Gayle hurt his knee against
Bristol, and he has only trained once since then, and Steve
Boonhan is carrying a calf strain, but we should be okay.
"If we’re at full strength it should be one heck
of a game. We’ve watched the Trophy final video a few
times, and Dave has done a great job to get them playing really
well. They remind me of our team three years ago when we had
a lot kids in the side.
"They also have some veterans who we need to be aware
of. They have five or six guys who can really shoot the ball.
It’s a tough game and we’ll have to play well.
"It’s the best two teams in the league playing
each other in the final game. That’s great for the league."
Rockets had visited the Amaechi Centre in October, and their
97-90 victory effectively clinched top spot in Pool One of
the National Trophy – a competition they went on to
retain with a second successive final win against Worthing
Thunder.
Rockets took an 80-77 lead with 5:30 to play but the Magic
drew level immediately on a base-line three from Patrick Dwyer
who quietly put up an inspiring 19 points and seven boards.
However Reading went on an 8-0 run over the next minute with
Steve Vear - who has since left the club - showing his quality
from the free throw line as he calmly converted five of his
six attempts in the period to ice the win. Patrick Dwyer led
the hosts scoring with 19, while Gayle and Stephan Gill added
18 and 17 respectively. Vear and Rich Wellings each scored
23 for the Rockets, backed up by 19 from the now departed
Clint Deas.
Incredibly, the two sides met in the semi-finals of all three
knockout competitions last season, with Manchester progressing
in both the National Cup and Playoffs, but Rockets gained
revenge by piping them to second spot in Division One despite
splitting the season series.
Before they get down to the title decider on Sunday, Rockets
will host Fury and Magic are at home against Crusaders in
what should be comfortable home wins for both sides.
Fury have lost their first 17 league games of the campaign,
and with their second team losing all 18 Division Four games,
they will be keen to avoid an imperfect league campaign.
James Bamfield’s side did beat Taunton Tigers in the
National Trophy group stage and also won against Eastside
Eagles in the National Cup, but their home league game against
the Rockets saw them crushed 96-41 – a result that lead
to Bamfield cutting American pair Lamar hull and Charles Whitfield.
Rockets led 25-17 at the first break and were 45-25 up at
half-time, but it was the third quarter which ended the game
as a contest with Reading outscoring the home side 27-2.
The win was wrapped up with a 24-14 final period to keep Titmuss’
side third in the table. Top scorers for the visitors were
Danny Carter with 30, David Watts 22, with 15-year-old Adam
Thoseby and new recruit Tom Sadler adding 10 points apiece.
Whitfield led Fury with 14 on his final appearance for the
club, while Bamfield chipped in with ten.
Coventry go into Saturday’s game with little to play
for after last week’s loss at Taunton consigned them
to ninth place in the table. They did manage to run Magic
close when the pair met in the midlands as twenty-seven Ryan
Leuthy points were not enough for Scott Neely’s side
to produce an upset as they went down 81-75.
The visitors rushed into a 27-17 first period lead, and looked
to have the win sewn up at half-time, leading 47-32. However
Coventry fought back, and a 22-17 third period cutting the
margin to ten going into the final break, but although they
won the fourth quarter 21-17, it wasn’t enough to steal
the win. Ed Baines-Clarke added 17 for Crusaders, while Magic
were led by 15 from Duncan Ogilvie and 13 from Steve Gayle.
|
