Hoods, Kestrels deal double blow to the Trailblazers
DERBY Trailblazers’ four-game winning streak came to an abrupt halt as they suffered defeats in NBL Division One and the quarterfinals of the National Cup.
While the league defeat away to Nottingham Hoods was close, finishing 75-71, the Trailblazers were completely outplayed in the cup, as Team Solent Kestrels saw them off 80-56.
“Hats off to Nottingham, I thought they played really well,” said Derby head coach Matt Shaw.
“Even though we were winning at half-time, we still weren’t playing anywhere near as well as we know we can. Nottingham really took control in the fourth quarter and we really struggled to seize momentum back.
“It looked like Blake (Bowman) might single-handedly get us back into the game but it wasn’t to be. That said, I think if the game had continued for another minute or two, we might have made it over the line.”
Shaw saw less to console him in the defeat to Kestrels.
“You have to play well to give yourself a chance of beating Solent and we just didn’t play well,” he said. “We had a spell in the first and second quarter which overlapped the quarter break where we were just terrible.
“It felt like there was a bubble put over our basket and we couldn’t get any sort of offence flowing. The game was over from that point.”
Trailblazers let a 13-point second quarter advantage slip away as they fell to their fifth league defeat of the season against Nottingham.
Raheem May-Thompson led the Blazers with 20 points, eight rebounds and three steals, while Blake Bowman finished with 12 but no other Derby player reached double figures.
The Hoods were led by 7’0” centre Mo Williams with 23 points and 13 boards, while former Blazers guard Johde Campbell also had a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds and ex-Derby forward Josh Guddemi put 16 past his old club.
Blake Bowman led the Trailblazers with 21 points and six rebounds against Solent, with Malcolm Smith adding 12 points, but the contest was effectively decided by an agonising 10-and-ahalf minute scoreless streak for the home side around the end of the first and the start of the second periods.
During that spell, Derby went from in contention at 14-13 down to completely out of it at 45-13.
They never got closer than at 62-42, when Bowman completed a three-point play with just over a minute of the third quarter remaining.
HOODS 75 TRAILBLAZERS 71 Nottingham: Williams 23, Campbell 16, Guddemi 16, Jiminez 10, Olarerin 6, Mitchell 2. Derby: May-Thompson 20, Bowman 16, Smith 11, Elliott-Sewell 8, Carter 7, Dieterich 6, Ugo 3.
TRAILBLAZERS 56 KESTRELS 80 Derby: Bowman 21, Smith 12, King 6, Dieterich 4, Elliott-Sewell 4, May-Thompson 4, Ugo 3, Carter 2.
Solent: Busumbru 15, Arissol 14, Sentence 12, Gentry 11, Okoronkwo 9, Jackman 8, Archer 6, Dadds 5.
Derby have another doubleheader next weekend, both at home, against Leicester Warriors in the league on Saturday (7pm) before facing Solent Kestrels again on Sunday in the semi-finals of the L Lynch Trophy (3pm).