Brightlingsea Sledgehammers 67
Erkenwald 62
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Erkenwald added to their impressive collection of Runners-Up medals with a valiant showing against reigning champions & long time cup-holders Brightlingsea, the game was close throughout and in the balance right up until the final minute when a John Powell offensive foul finally ended the Erks challenge. The game was not short on controversy, Hammers guard Vic Booty being ejected at the start of the second quarter after what appeared from the bench to be a frustrated swipe in the general direction of the ball after a turnover. The incident however was interpreted by referee Simon Appleby as an attempted punch at Erks centre Dave Churches and in fairness to him, the view from the officials table afterwards seemed to be that it looked like a punch. Either way, Booty needed some persuasion to leave the gym and the resulting hail of technical fouls helped the Erks into the lead as Dave Churches buried all 6 of his 2nd quarter efforts from the line.
In the short term the disqualification helped the Erks into a half-time lead at 32-27, as only Colchester Div 2 guard Joe Matthews was really proving a threat for the Hammers with 13 first half points and in addition foul trouble for the Hammers main inside players, the Ward brothers, allowed the Erks to score around the hoop, Dave Churches also hitting 13 in the first half and Mark Denchfield adding 7. However in the long term, the fired up Hammers re-grouped in the 2nd half and for the remainder of the game the Erks could hardly buy a call from the referees, the men in grey whistling 22 fouls against the Erks to just 12 against the Hammers.
The Erks 5 point halftime lead was soon whittled away as Jules Keeling and Alec Ward stepped up to support their Colchester teammate Matthews. Ward's 13 points in the 2nd half were crucial, as he took advantage of Dave Churches tendancy to help on defence with a succession of put backs around the hoop. The Erks crashed to a 10 point defecit as their offensive output completely dried up to the extent that Coach McCusker was heard to be encouraging Ed Bailey to shoot more at a late 3rd quarter timeout.
Implausibly, Bailey not only heeded his coaches instructions, but he then hit 8 quick points around the final quarter break to keep the Erks in touch before Mark Denchfield caught fire and hit 3 treys in as many minutes. Amazingly the old, tired Erks were dominating the final quarter, but a costly gamble on defence allowed Matthews to hit a trey in reply and the Erks could never open a lead of more than a couple of points.
As the Erks started to run out of idea on offense with Denchfield well marked, the Hammers took the lead again at 59-57, but a foul as Churches was putting up a 3 allowed the Erks best free-throw shooter a trip to line & the big man responded by hitting all 3 to give the Erks what proved to be their final lead at 60-59. From that point Keeling stepped up with a couple of big baskets, along with another clutch shot from Matthews and although Churches closed the game back to 63-62, Powell's late foul gave the Hammers the chance to run down the clock and them claim the winning basket to run out 67-62 victors.
Erks scorers:
Churches 20, Denchfield 19, Bailey 10, Herd 6, Powell 4, Atkinson 2, Agbolegbe 1
Hammers scorers:
Matthews 20, Keeling 14, A Ward 13, M Ward 7, Booty 6, Smith 5, Wilson 2
Report posted: 22/03/05
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