The Medway Park Crusaders were edged out 65-63, in a very close battle, against the Brixton Topcats, in round three of their EBL Division One campaign on Saturday night.

Report by Nick Moore

The home side lead for around 38 minutes of the game, but could not stop a late surge by the Topcats, who clinched the game in the dying seconds.

The Crusaders started the much stronger team, holding Brixton to just 10 points in the first quarter. 6’2 guard Luke Baker, and 6’9 forward Joesph Schow put the Medway side on the board early, with Kalil Irving and JP Dimanja winning a lot of offensive and defensive rebounds. The score read 17-10.

Brixton stepped up the pace in the second quarter with baskets and assists coming from Tom Adorian, who hit 14 points personal and Karolis Petkus, on his way to 11 points.

The Crusaders defence remained solid under the Brixton pressure and they made it hard for the away side to get into any kind of rhythm.  At half time, the score read 38-29 to Medway.

After the break, both teams matched each other’s strong offensive plays, tying the scoring at 15 a- piece, meaning that the Crusaders went into the final 10 minutes 53-44 up.

In the last quarter Medway were put on the back foot as Brixton started to slowly get back into the game. The Crusaders, stunned by the Brixton comeback, lost their composure and a frustrated Schow picked up a technical foul, after a personal foul, with just two minutes to go.

Brixton made the free throws, and quickly followed it up by a steal and layup to put them three points up. With just 15 seconds to go the Topcats made another free throw to put them 4 points up, but Irving then hit back for the Medway side, to pull them within 2 points with just eight seconds remaining.

The Crusaders had a shot to clinch the win but it just came up short. The final quarter read 21-10 to Brixton, and 65-63 to the London side.

Medway Coach, James Vear was pleased with his team’s determination, but clearly disappointed with the loss. He said: “I cannot fault our effort tonight. The guys gave everything on the court and I’m proud of the way we stepped up our defence.”

He added: “We need to become more clinical in the last two minutes of games and make sure we see them out. We led for over 37 minutes tonight and out re-bounded a very tall, athletic team.”

The Crusaders next game sees them take on the Worthing Thunder at home on Sunday, 27 Nov. Vear will be hoping for a home win, but is remaining very cautious over the South coast side who have won their last two games – over the Derby Trailblazers and the Westminster Warriors.

He said: “Worthing are a good team. Their Coach, Gary Smith likes to play an up-tempo style of basketball and they have had some good results so far.”

He added: “I’ve heard they have got some good import players and we have to make sure we make it hard for them to play.”

The Medway side hope to see a good level of support there on Sunday. Tip-off is 3pm at Medway Park.

Picture by Cesar Velasco