Dickson blitz aids champs in opener
WARWICKSHIRE Basketball League Champions Tile Hill Trojans 1 faced a tough opener for the season but rode the challenge of Aylesford Hawks to start with a flourish.
Coach Trevor Robinson, while not thrilled with his side’s performance, was pleased to have got through this fixture, which he described as “as tough a challenge as we could have faced.”
The visitors to the new Moreton Morrell Sports Centre, which is now home to Aylesford as well as the National League side Warwickshire Hawks, took hold of the game from the off and were 16-7 ahead after a trio of three-pointers flew from the hands of top scorer Ashley Dickson.
Hawks responded and closed to 22-21 as Sam Crawford and new signing Nathan Palmer-Stevens hit, but former Hawk, Mark Larner struck three on the trot as Trojans moved away. The home side rallied again to get to within one, but Domink Gorgol shone to make it 38-33 to Trojans at half-time.
It remained close but Hawks soon began to wilt.
Austin Dickson, the younger brother of Ashley came to the party as they piled it on, taking hold of the game before the close of the third quarter. Ash Dickson led Trojans on 18 with Gorgol making 16 and Austin Dickson 14, while Crawford grabbed 22 and Ruben Ramos 20 for the hosts.
Arden Griffins had to weather a storm in the first half of their match against newly-promoted Coventry College at St Peter’s.
Griffins had to fight all the way before overtaking the former Henley side just before half-time. It was then 38-35 to the home side who came out and blitzed their visitors with a game winning 30-11 third period to finish on the right side of an 87-66 victory.
In Division Two, Coventry Tornadoes had the match-winner at Tile Hill 2 in the hands of former Trojan Michael “Junior” Stokes. His nine-point first quarter tally took Tornadoes into a 15-9 lead, and he added a further ten before the end which came after Trojans had fought back to lead the game at the final break.
But it was then downhill for the Hereward College based side as Tornadoes basked in a 10-0 opening to the final period, a surge which gave them the points and a 56-49 win.
Tamworth Tigers did not know what to expect when newcomers to Division Three Nuneaton Predators arrived at the Rawlett Centre, but they were delighted with their team’s performance which brought them a resounding 108-29 success, and a forty-point haul for new signing Lukasz Bolda.
Meanwhile, Rugby Rage, who now field only one side in the bottom tier had little trouble at injury-ravaged Trojans 3, the veterans going down 29-69 as Rage’s Dave Martin excelled on 26. Westwood Rhinos were also in trouble having just six players on their list as they crashed to a 28-42 defeat at home to Team Rebels.