Chiltern Fastbreak 73 – Aztecs Falcons 45
(13-8; 23-26 [10-18]; 55-34 [32-8]; 73-45 [18-11])
Leading scorers:
Paul Howard 14; Becky Wellington 9; Dan Sinclair/Tim Tostevin/Russ Coulson 5
Match summary:
The Falcons started the new year with a terrific first half performance, restricting Chiltern to just 23 and scoring 26, with their top scorer Paul Howard netting 10 of his 14 in the second quarter. Sadly the second half started badly, and Chiltern scored 24 without reply in six minutes thanks to a good press and some classic fastbreak scoring.
Key stats:
The Falcons shot an impressive 57% from the line (Becky Wellington was 100%), made five three-pointers (from four different players) and for 36 minutes restricted their opponents to 49 points. In that crazy six minutes at the start of the second half Chiltern won the game.
Coach Walker’s assessment:
At half time we agreed we needed to maintain the excellent effort shown in the first half that got us a 3-point lead, play tough controlled defence, make our shots and look after the ball. The Falcons eventually steadied the boat after shipping 24 unanswered points. The team showed excellent determination, worked really well on defence and kept fighting to the final buzzer. Becky Wellington took some heavy hits taking charges; Paul Howard hit a purple patch scoring 8 unanswered points and Russ Coulson, Adam Birch, Matt Blowfield and Dan Sinclair drove at the opposition drawing 10 fouls in nine third period minutes. Becky, Matt Sawyer, Iain Rogers, Time Tostevin and Simon Martin battled hard to secure some vital rebounds. Some very encouraging signs as the Falcons start their 18 remaining league fixtures.
Next Falcons action:
Monday 13th January: Training at Kings Academy 8:30 to 10:00pm
Tuesday 14th January: Div 3 game HOME against Wolfpack Mohegans at Wellington College at 7:30pm
Tuesday 21st January: Div 3 game AWAY against Farnborough Phantoms 3 at 8:15pm
Jim Nasiam
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