County side hoping for a threesy time
JM Grizzlies started the new year in style as they ran riot at Nuneaton to ram home a 100-41 victory over Predators 2 in Division Two of the Warwickshire Basketball League.
The home side, featuring some young players alongside a couple of experienced campaigners, could not handle the unbeaten Warwick team who completely dominated the top versus bottom clash right from the start.
Daniel Valente was in sparkling form – particularly in the opening quarter when he steered home 14 of his 26-point total – and when Richard Ingham (29 points) added his weight to his young colleague, the pair looked unstoppable.
Grizzlies had raced into a 55-15 lead by half-time and they kept up the pressure to go 85-25 ahead before Predators began to hit as their opponents eased back.
It was obviously far too late to get a result, but at least the 16-17 final quarter gave the lads some confidence.
Coventry Tornadoes surprisingly went down 56-42 at Leamington Spartans 2 in the only other game in the division which was not called off due to court problems. Spartans, who lost their opening six games now seem to be settling down and could cause a few upsets in the future.
Trying desperately to hang on to their top position Nuneaton’s first team had to pull out all the stops when they went to Grace Academy where Ernesford Eagles did everything right, until the last minute, when Predators lived up to their name and nipped in to steal the win 59-57.
Division One belongs to Arden Griffins who brought 2020 in with a bang as they travelled to Moreton Morrell and crushed Aylesford Hawks 99-77 with Luke Hatfield grabbing 31 points and Sam Workman 21 as Griffins maintained their 100 per cent record at the top. Tom Grayling answered with 24 for the hosts but they failed to win any of the quarters as Arden begin to look invincible. Tamworth Tigers took the points from Rugby Rage with some outstanding defensive work just after half-time when they kept their visitors to just four points while they forged ahead.
Neil Evans impressed from outside and dropped in five triples to add 15 to Lukasz Bolda’s 16 as Tigers jumped into second place.
Tile Hill Trojans 2 held all the aces at Woodlands where they defeated Warwick China Red 70-61 despite a gutsy showing from the home side who mustered just six players. Trojans controlled the inside game though with new signing Lief Redmond leading on 15 as Amandeep Shergill added 13 and Trojans big man Egis Baliunas 11.
Tamworth Tigers 62 Rugby Rage 50, Aylesford Hawks 77 Arden Griffins 99, Warwick China Red 61 Tile Hill Trojans2 70
P W L F A Pt Arden Griffins 9 9 0 866 542 27 Tamworth Tigers 10 6 4 684 576 22 Aylesford Hawks 10 5 5 639 684 20 Tile Hill Trojans1 7 6 1 549 373 19 Rugby Rage 9 4 5 551 625 17 Tile Hill Trojans2 11 3 8 637 808 17 Leamington Sp 7 2 5 425 505 11 Warwick CR 9 1 8 472 710 11
Nuneaton Predators2 41 JM Grizzlies 100, Tile Hill Trojans3 v Westwood Rhinos - postponed, Ernesford Eagles 57 Nuneaton Predators1 59, Leamington Spartans2 56 Coventry Tornadoes 42
P W L F Nuneaton Preds1 10 9 1 691 JM Grizzlies 7 7 0 532
Tile Hill Trojans3 9 6 3 513 Coventry Ts 9 5 4 529 Westwood Rhinos 8 4 4 522 Ernesford Eagles 9 3 6 557 Leamington Sp2 10 2 8 513 Team Rebels 7 2 5 333 Nuneaton Preds2 7 0 7 266
A 529 293 503 552 526 504 619 343 587
Pt 28 21 21 19 16 15 14 11 7
Warwickshire County Darts Organisation will be looking to make it three wins in a row in this weekend’s BDO Inter County Championships Premier Division clash at home to second-placed Lancashire. Currently lying fourth in the table Warwickshire are some 18 points short of their opponents but will be looking to reduce those arrears and repeat last season’s result when they played away and won 20-16.
Daniel Valente was in sparkling form – particularly in the opening quarter when he steered home 14 of his 26-point total.