Blazers made to fight but quarter-final slot is clinched in the end
DERBY Trailblazers booked their placed in the quarter-finals of the L Lynch Trophy by grinding out a hard fought 69-62 home win over Myerscough College.
The Division Two North side, who finished runners-up last season showed they would be worthy of a place in the higher division as they came from behind and led for much of second half, before Derby edged back in front to clinch victory and a home tie with Worthing Thunder.
“Massive credit goes to Myerscough,” said Derby coach Matt Shaw.
“They played really well, battled really hard and generally made it very difficult for us.
“They were excellent defensively and, as a result, we didn’t play as well as we wanted to.
“The huge positive is that we managed to find a way to come back from seven points down with five minutes left.
“It was a really pleasing end to the game, particularly as we did such a good job defensively down the stretch and also managed to get the ball into the basket.”
Captain Oli Stanley led by example, with 19 points and 12 rebounds, while Myerscough’s Great Osobor narrowly eclipsed the Derby man’s haul by adding 14 rebounds to his 19 points.
Both teams struggled to convert from long range and at the freethrow line but Derby edged the shooting percentages overall and took the battle of the boards by 47 rebounds to 44.
Baskets from Franklin Agu and Osobor provided Myerscough with an early lead but scores from Mal
colm Smith and Blake Bowman tied the scores before a drive to the hoop from Lascelles and a rare threepointer from Smith put Derby 9-6 ahead.
It was tit-for-tat but a pair of freethrows from Ash Ugo, an explosive dunk from Stanley and a threepointer from Josh Guddemi gave the Trailblazers an 18-13 lead at the end of the first quarter.
A 9-2 start to the second, with Stanley providing another five points, had them looking in control at 27-15 and although that run was halted by a three from the impressive Osobor, then another from Pedro Ellery, Derby still looked in good shape at 36-27 at half-time.
On they pushed to a lead of 41-29 in the third but then the momentum of the game changed.
Osobor hit his second threepointer and Mysercough followed it up with an 11-0 run to take a 44-42 lead.
Ronald Oberia lifted the Blazers with a steal and a dunk but the students went into the the final quarter having edged back in front at 50-49 and stretched that to a seven-point lead with less than six minutes to play, at which point Shaw’s time-out was crucial.
Happily for Derby, it did the trick, a dunk from Stanley sparking a 7-0 burst which also included a threepoint play by Guddemi and another steal and score from Oberia.
It was Myerscough’s turn to call for a time-out and it could have been awkward for Derby when Stanley fouled out as Titus Warari attempted a triple but the Myerscough guard missed all three shots from the line.
Bowman then scored to put Derby 67-72 ahead and after Osobor also missed from the line for the students, Conway did not, his two from two sealing victory.
“We were very sloppy at times and we’ve got to look after the ball much better,” said Shaw.
“But Oli was outstanding, with some huge plays at both ends of the floor.”
Derby will be at home to Worthing Thunder in the quarter-finals of the Trophy; date and time are yet to be arranged.
DERBY: Stanley 19, Smith 13, Bowman 11, Conway 10, Guddemi 8, Oberia 4, Lascelles 2, Ugo 2, Bousfield DNP, Chilver DNP, Prospere DNP, Roberts DNP.
MYERSCOUGH: Osobor 19, Richardson 11, Agu 8, Warari 6, Bankole 4, Sullivan 4, Ellery 3, Iwediebo 3, Chive 2, Gargan 2, Adams 0, Udema 0.