Mon 23rd April
The Seahawks hosted the Southampton Uni Badgers in a great tight contest. The Badgers have shown to be a poor travelling team, having won everything at home, but nothing on the road... and it showed in the opening minutes. With only 7 players, 2 who turned up at the tip off, with no warm up, they struggled to find anything, while at the other end the Seahawks got everything. Peter opened the scoring from mid-range, before I got the 3 to drop. Gozim was grabbing rebounds working hard underneath, with Yera and Josh getting some great stops at the other end. It was one way traffic, but a few wayward passes gave them 2 fast breaks for their only points in open play in the first stint. 17-9 at the first break.
The second was a well matched affair. As we rotated our players and bench, we saw great defence from Brendan at the top and Henry Lau playing out of position down low, the game was To and Fro to start the quarter, before the Badgers got a little 10-0 run as our offence dried up a little, but still with good ball movement and getting good looks. However, a settling time-out from Coach Mills and a drink on board, the Seahawks rallied back to finish the half strong with a 10-0 run themselves to put us back in the driving seat.
33-26 at the half.
The third we started slow as we couldnt get the ball to drop, however our defence stood tall and made them work for their points. As the Badgers found their range more, with #44 Abassi doing some damage, 10 in the quarter, as they moved the ball around the perimeter and found open corner shots. At the other end Josh was still penetrating, and Peter was working well to control the offence, with Gozim and Yera strong underneath. A final 3 ball put the Badgers ahead at the interval 42-44.
Down the stretch, age and game experience definitely came into play, as a close game that had simmered was no boiling. The supporters made their voices heard and pushed the players to keep going, even the old man. Although some whistles were questionable, there were moments that could have turned the game. The Badgers started the final stretch strong, but mostly from the line, with their run being ended by a solid 3-point play from Gozim. A well worked overload play found me wide open for a corner deuce, and Josh added another drive to cut it to 50-56. A knock away steal from Peter let me on the break for an open layup, before they answered inside 52-58. Down to the final minutes and we needed the ball back, or watch them run out the clock, but a few overzealous reaches were called "unsportsmanlike" ... but he missed the first 2 from the stripe. Brendan had a great look at a long 3, to cut the lead, but it just rattled out. Another U-foul effectively put the game to bed, and my return 3-ball just coming up short, the game was over. We battled on but it finished 54-63 in a flattering scoreline that was much closer (54-58) in the final minute.
A great solid game, with some good ball movement and working well for each other. Its such a shame to come up short, especially when we were so dominant in the first quarter, and these losses are far more gutting that 30point blowouts.
[Scorers: Wood 17, Huang 14, Nwokolo 12, Strongman 6, Li 4, Aimaganbetov 2]