Erks 66 Cardinals 62
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A battling effort from a 6 man team saw the Erks through to a first Essex
Met play-off final for 5 years as they overturned 3 previous comfortable
league defeats against Cardinals and exorcised the ghost of a 24-0 first
quarter deficit in the first of those encounters. One look at the Erks
line-up featuring shooters Irfan & Chris, point guard Dela and 3 players,
Broms, Chims & Hungry Pete, not renowned for their scoring prowess would
have led almost anybody to identify that the only way the Erks could
possibly win the game was with a massive defensive effort and big games from
Irf & Chris. Fortunately however, Cardinals were coached by Henderson "H"
Gabriel, so they stuck with a zone for the entire game rather than forcing a
reluctant scorer to step up (although Coach McCusker tried the latter
approach in an Erks A - Erks B game last year, at which point Wes Fortt did
step up with 38). Therefore Irf & Chris combined for 80% of the Erks points,
with Dela getting all but one of the remainder. Despite 3 players scoring
nearly all the Erks points, structure and ball movement was still good & if
any of the other 3 players could hit an open shot, the winning margin could
have been comfortable.
At the defensive end a tremendous effort from official club photographer,
website designer, chatroom moderator and headfake perpetrator Hungry Pete on
Marvin Willson restricted him to only a dozen points and a similar effort
from Irfan "the glove" Hussain on Cardinals dangerous point guard & 3 point
threat Molna restricted him to 13 points and only a couple of good looks
from downtown. Likewise, intelligent switching of match-ups by Broms against
a much taller team meant that Cardinals never had an easy source of points
as the guards pressurised the ball and Broms fronted anybody trying to post
up, with ample help from Chims who controlled the boards.
The Erks were also helped by a somewhat eccentric substitution policy from
the Cardinals who after using only 6 players in the entire first half in a
failed attempt to blow the game open, played all 10 players in the 4th
quarter and as a consequence never got into any offensive rhthym. A heated
debate in the changing rooms after the game between Marvin Willson & coach
"H" over this policy was the icing on the cake for the Erks who will
probably play Caister champions Hainault in the final, date and venue TBA
(although as medals are on offer everybody in the club is likely to be
available).
Erks:
Hussain 31, Olufeso 22, Agbolegbe 12, Williams 1, Horrell, Bromfield
Cardinals:
Molna 13, Ladipo 13, Willson 12, Baukham 10, Waterfield 6, Andrews 4, Bubb
2, Brodholt 2, De Santos, Dupuis.
Report posted: 24/04/02
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