Kent Crusaders suffered a tough 77-65 loss to Team Newcastle University in the Patrons Cup Final on Sunday afternoon at Herts Sports Village.

With last time the two teams met having gone to four overtimes and a tight Kent loss, Crusaders were seeking revenge but it was not meant to be.

Though it was Crusaders who got the better of the early stages of the game to go up six, Team Newcastle finished the first period on a 13-0 run to take control and would hold on from there.

Kent always remained in striking distance, and dominated the glass throughout, but a deep dagger three pointer – one of many from Newcastle – from Mark Elderkin for an 11 point cushion with 1:46 to play sealed Crusaders’ fate.

Crusaders Head Coach Lloyd Gardner commented:

“It was a disappointing day for us. Congratulations to Newcastle I thought they deserved the game today for the way they played. They shot it well from the outside and made some huge shots down the stretch. I thought we could have been a little better moving the ball and playing as a group both offensively and defensively. We will have to learn from this and use it as a motivation for the rest of our league campaign.”

Rich Austin stuffed the statsheet to pick up MVP honours for Team Newcastle, having 21 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks, whilst Jack Beresford added 17 off the bench on 8 of 9 shooting.

RJ Eytle-Rock led Kent with 23 points, whilst Dan Akin and Amin Adamu adding 10 points a piece, with the former adding 15 rebounds, as Crusaders won the rebounding battle 48-25.

“I thought it was an outstanding performance,” Newcastle Head Coach Ian Hewitt continued.

“Offensively we had to be at our best as Kent are always tough defensively, but defensively, to hold that team to 65 is testament to how we played and how much we wanted to win.

“Once we went into that last four minutes, of more of a ball movement oriented team, moving the ball quicker against the press that helped us massively and just pushed us over the edge. Every time it got a little close that’s what we looked to do, just move the ball a little more, it worked for us, and stopped them from putting the press on to give us a little more of an advantage.”