The Medway Park Crusaders failed to claim a second win in round two of their EBL Division One campaign, losing 82-70 to Leeds Carnegie, on the road.

Report by Nick Moore

The game saw Adrian Fenyn, who now wears Crusaders colours, haunt his old side by hitting a game-high 26 points, but despite this, the former Leeds player and his team could not pull off the victory.

It was an emotional return for the Crusaders player, but the 6’6 American could not out power the combination of Leed’s Henry Wilkins and Gyorgy Polya – who combined for 46 points.

Both players hit 23 a piece, but it was the 3 point shooting from guard Wilkins that proved too much for the Kent based side.

Crusaders coach, James Vear, said: “Leeds shot the ball very well today and held a very good back court. Henry (Wilkins) has improved a lot in the past year and is now one of the leading guards in the league.”

Leeds started the stronger of the two sides, coming out on the fast break and hitting a few outside shots to dominate the first quarter 19-10 – the Medway side were getting enough looks at the basket, but nothing seemed to be dropping for them.

However, they picked up the pace in the second quarter and started to slowly chip away at the deficit. They finally saw their attempts dropping, and slowed down the Leeds offence by playing a much higher intensity defence.

They clinched the second period 24-18 and went into half time trailing by just three points, 37-34 – the Crusaders actually had a shot to level the game on the buzzer to tie the game, but it narrowly missed.

After the break, Leeds quickly fired out to a 10 point lead within minutes as the Crusaders started slowly. The University based side started causing the Medway team problems all over, but especially in the back court. A 25-17 period to Leeds meant the score read 62-51 going into the final 10 minutes.

The fourth quarter was a very edgy affair for both sides, as they struggled to find their rhythm again. The Crusaders started making baskets, but only trading equal points with Leeds.

The Crusaders couldn’t close the 10 point gap Carnegie had established and the home side closed the game out by taking the final period 20-19.

Coach Vear, despite the defeat, was remaining optimistic. He said: “Although we lost today I can take out lots of positives. We played very well in stages and ran our offence strongly.”

He added: “The problem at the moment just seems to be a lack of consistency on the defensive end.  We cannot allow good teams to go on runs at this level as they will punish you.”

Vear mentioned youngster Disraeli Lufadeju, 6’2 guard, as having a particularly good game. He said: “I thought our back court was very good today, especially ‘Dizzy’ who ran the team as well as he has all season.” – Dizzy hit 12 points personal.

The Crusaders next game sees them take on the Brixton Topcats at home on Saturday, 19 Nov.  Brixton, who played two games this weekend, lost them both.

The first was a 97-70 thumping by the Bradford Dragons on Saturday and on Sunday they were easily beaten 79-54 by Division One leaders, the Bristol Academy Flyers.
The Medway side hope to see a good level of support there on Saturday. Tip-off is 5pm at Medway Park.