Tues 31st Oct, Applewood Leisure Centre, Hythe.
Seahawks travelled to Hythe to face the Bucks in the 2017-18 season opener. We were fired up and ready to roll and the first quarter was all Seahawks. Utilising our smaller, quicker size, we ran the offence well and pressed on D to create turnovers and easy fast breaks. Although the super slippy, dusty floor didn't help our point guards and attacking dribbling style, we quickly jumped to an easy 8-0 lead, through PG Peter Huang and myself, before Hythe opened their account. Nick added a driving basket before rolling his ankle on a defensive rebound, and had to leave the game. The first finished 16-6.
The second we continued to pile on the pressure on D, as they failed to capitalise on their size inside. However our offence had slowed a little and we were missing some easy shots, and making silly turnovers, we extended our lead. Harry Warren opened his year tally, with a sweet swish from distance. Henry Lau hit the 3 from the elbow. Abner Li splashed one from the corner and Jack Xu hit another open corner J. Yera although didn't score was playing solid D under the basket and learning quickly in his first senior game. Hythe clearly frustrated in the score line started to show their anger against our players. A cheap elbow to the back of Jack's head, and then a clear thrown elbow to the gut of Iraj, left them both on the floor. But we didn't rise to them, keeping our heads well. It went 11-5 in the quarter and 27-11 at the break.
The third quarter completely flipped the game. The Hythe offence started using their experience to move the ball much better and work our guards; finding open shots which now started dropping. At the other end our offence became a little stagnant, slowing a little in the triangle, and forcing a few shots, but mainly making silly turnovers; travels, stepping on lines in the corner, bad passes and missed layups. Once the come-back had started our heads started getting the better of us. A few more pressurised mistakes and forced situations led to them closing the gap. Our lead was down to 36-32 after 3 quarters, but the momentum was clearly on their side.
In the forth, their offence worked the ball well, and in hind-sight we should have looked at going man-to-man to stop the open shot [difficulties of playing and coaching at the same time, looking forward to having Chris back next week to help coaching!]. Again their shots were dropping that didn't in the first half. I stopped the rot, a little with a 3, but once they took the lead, their confidence grew, whilst ours was clearly hit: giving up a commanding lead to lose it in the final minutes does that. Peter was slowed by a knee to the thigh, but continued to score taking the games top honours with 18. The scoreline is greatly flattering to a team that in truth couldn't contain us, but credit where its due for Hythe hitting shots when it counted. It ended 45-56.
Coaching wise we were gutted for giving up such a lead, but to come out in the opening game of the season and get that lead, away from home is a massive bonus. Without Nik for the majority of the game our back court was solid, working well together but lacked that 1-2 spearhead attack. Wish him a speedy recovery.
Bring it on when they visit us, on a bigger wider court, where we can spread the ball and run, and actually change direction rather than playing skid-ball!
[Scorers: P Huang 18, O Wood 14, J Xu 4, H Lau 3, N Colonius 2, A Li 2, I Safaee 2, H Warren 2]