Thurs 5th November Seahawks hosted the Winchester Warriors. Timo had returned and we hoped to get the season started with a win against a team we had faced up to well last season.
However the Warriors came out firing and they stretched us to a 0-12 in the first minutes. Our offence was working, the plays were textbook, and against a much bigger team we were getting good looks, but the ball wouldnt drop. Hani finally broke the duck, from the foul line. Rahkat and Dan W added triples to bring us a bit closer but they again went on a run, and we looked off as they finished the 1st 9-23.
The second was better, we came out with intent and had some fight. Myself and Timo added some to the tally to close the gap before Josh got a 3 point play to drop against the 6'8" Man Mountain, Mike Sampson. Hani added a pair to cut the lead to 8, 23-31 before their big centre added a 3point play of his own. The half ended 23-34.
The half saw both teams spoken to about silly, cheap scrappy fouls, something that we know we need to cut out. But we came out firing, especially Dan W, who added 5 quick points, and a drop from myself cut the lead to 6, 32-38. But even after the warning, cheap fouls sent them to the line, 4 times in the last few minutes, and they converted. Our offence was doing nothing wrong. The movement was great and screens were working well, but the ball would not drop. I missed 4 layups, so cant blame anyone, but everyone was off - we must have given up 20+ points from layups. They took it back to 36-49.
The forth saw us convert a few offences but they took the ball inside consistently working our smaller players and kept the lead at 13. A huge shout out to the supporters who kept behind us all the way and kept our tails up til the finish. At 48-61 we hadnt cut the lead and time was running out, and then the desperation set in and a few shots went begging and they broke the press to stretch the final score to 50-69. This really doesn't reflect the level of our team. The offence and desicion making was good, but finishing was lacking. Defence gave a few too many cheap fouls and gave them easy points from the line. But a great game.
[Scorers: T Schnabl 12, O Wood 9, H Mazloum 8, R Kabdygaliyev 7, D Walker 7, G Anstwurm 2, J Strongman 2, D Avery 2]
Next Up Bournemouth Classics Nov 12th at Home.