Smith at centre of mixed fortune for Trailblazers
DERBY Trailblazers’ weekend began with a shocking defeat and ended with a heartening victory in NBL Division One.
They blew a 32-point third-quarter lead as they suffered an unexpected 90-88 away defeat against Bradford Dragons on Saturday, with a remarkable turn-around in fortunes coming after a controversial ejection for American forward Malcolm Smith.
But the Blazers – and Smith – were able to respond positively the following day in a home match against one of their closest rivals for a play-off place, beating Newcastle 75-69.
Derby appeared to be cruising to victory when, having picked up a technical foul in the first quarter, Smith was hit with an unsportsmanlike foul call in the third.
While the technical was justified, there appeared no malice involved when Smith collided with Bradford’s Great Osobor as both players sprinted back down court following a Dragons basket.
It proved a game-changing incident and head coach Matt Shaw said the referee got it wrong.
“It was the wrong call and I’m sure the ref would admit that when he sees the video. I really felt for Malcolm because it was such bad luck,” he said.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have VAR, although that’s maybe not a bad thing because I think it’s spoiling football a bit, but I do think it’s a decision which would have been overturned.
“That said, we were in a position where we should still have been able to comfortably win the game, so looking at that and learning from what went wrong is more important to us.”
Derby were 53-31 ahead at the break and opened the third with eight straight points to lead by 32. However, Bradford fought back with a 15-3 run and had cut the gap to 17 when Smith was ejected with 11 minutes to go.
The Dragons were lifted, while Derby’s heads dropped.
It was 77-60 going into the final quarter, but Bradford started with a 13-4 run and another 17-2 burst gave them the lead for the first time since the second minute.
There were missed shots and turnovers galore for Derby as Bradford secured an unlikely win.
After the shock of that defeat, Trailblazers got back on track against Newcastle with Smith leading the way.
The American piled in a gamehigh 29 points, which included 11 of 13 at the free-throw line as he repeatedly caused Newcastle problems close to the basket, taking seven rebounds.
Jacob Conway was also in fine form, sinking 10 of 10 at the line on his way to 22 points.
The sides went into the game with identical 10-4 records but with Newcastle having won the reverse league fixture, making it a game Derby badly needed to win in the race for play-off seedings.
Neither side could really break away and there were seven changes of lead and eight ties. The Blazers’ lead peaked at nine and Newcastle’s at six.
“It was a really scrappy game, but I was delighted with the heart and battle the lads showed, especially after the defeat to Bradford. I don’t think we ever got into much rhythm, but we found a way to get the job done,” said Shaw.
A 10-0 Newcastle burst opened a six-point lead in the fourth but Derby scored the next eight points to go 65-63 ahead.
A Josh Guddemi three-pointer made it 70-65 with 95 seconds remaining and Blazers held on to consolidate their hold on fourth place.
BRADFORD 90 DERBY 88
Bradford: Lycoudis 23, Walsh 17, Sulcs 16, Osobor 11, Regent-Bascombe 8, Fetske 7, Cousins 4, Gutmanis 2, Laing 2.
Derby: Conway 17, Ugo 17, Bowman 16, Guddemi 12, Smith 10, Oberia 7, Jones 4, Brown 3, Stanley 2.
DERBY 75 NEWCASTLE 69
Derby: Smith 29, Conway 22, Guddemi 8, Bowman 6, Brown 4, Stanley 4, Ugo 2.
Newcastle: Blain 19, Moya 19, Federici 8, Yabantu 7, Urli 6, Kabengele 4, Cork 4, Cauthorn 2.
The Blazers are away to Oaklands Wolves on Sunday.