Wed 22nd Feb
We always knew this was going to be a tough fixture. The Classics have come on a long way in the few years since they joined the league and we beat them in Nov. 2015. They are now bigger, stronger, fitter and have found some great shooters. This year they look like they could win it all, remaining undefeated, but looks like the top 2 (Classics/Bandits) will face each other on the last day for the crown.
We decided on a slightly different line up, running some bigger guys together, so try and close the middle, which worked well, but then they just hit us from the outside. We started well, with our normal energy and shot well to make it 7-4, before they just opened us up hitting 4 3-pointers in the quarter. Our offence relied to much on mid and long range shots and didn't penetrate at all and with a few silly turnovers we were down 25-11 after 10 mins.
To say this was a tough game is an understatement. It was brutal. Of course the outcome would not have been swayed, but the refs played a large part in the game, from the wrong perspective. It is a thankless task, giving up evenings for very little money, to allow us to play, but tonight it seems they forgot how to blow their whistles. Just nothing was getting called, at both ends. It was getting silly and unfortunately, with competitive matches, both teams realised we could get away with it. I played a full 40mins, down low and didn't commit a single foul! And again, although it wouldn't have changed the outcome, it was a battle that our smaller, younger side was not going to win.
Five 3pointers in the 2nd quarter, from 4 different players, showed how well they were shooting. We played well underneath, Niklas was being strong and getting some great blocks and boards, Gozim on his first senior match was solid on D, although a little nerve-y, but did manage to grab a put back to open his account. Iraj was running well on the wing and getting good looks too and Henry controlled the game from the top and although didn't get fully into his rhythm was still scoring. It was 45-21 after 2.
The third was our best quarter offensively. We started attacking the rim a bit more, finding the post players, with Nik adding 6 and Jack adding a deuce from the post. Peter was driving with almost no worry about his health, and getting smacked up, but of course with no whistles. I got to the line once, somehow and added another to finish a closer quarter, 69-37, (24-16 in the 3rd) but again they were not doing what we expected. They scored very little from close. Nik, Goz, Iraj and Jack put in great performances underneath. It was outside that we couldn't stop them, not due to lack of effort from the guards, Henry Lau and Harry Warren playing solid at the top, but another 3 3's, of their 14 made on the night.
The forth was a similar story, with players getting even more scrappy and the refs calling little. A great cut from Henry Lau found him in open space for the layup, to open the quarter, and Peter finally got to the line on his great driving, and although airballed the first! swished the next 3. Offensively wasn't shocking, but again relied too much on the jumper, younger players nervous about being beat up by going to the rim (and tonight maybe rightly so!) but when we did penetrate and find the post players we could score. At the other end we never gave up, but they were just too strong and showed why they are top of the table. We did well to keep them in double figures.
It ended 95-47.
[Scorers: O Wood 11, N Colonius 10, H Cheng 7, P Huang 6, I Safaee 6, J Xu 4, G Nwokolo 2, H Lau 2]