Blazers strike to steal home side’s Thunder
DERBY Trailblazers ended their year in style with a thrilling 91-89 victory away to second-placed Worthing Thunder in NBL Division One.
It was, without doubt, one of their best performances of the season but they had to withstand a dramatic late fightback by the home side to hold on to it.
After struggling to get their shots to drop against Thames Valley the previous week, Derby’s shooting against Worthing was exemplary, as Malcolm Smith shot 73% for 29 points, while Matt Ward-Hibbert returned from injury to net 20 points, including five of eight three-point attempts.
Benson Arogbo converted 70% on his way to a season-best 15 points and Oli Stanley converted a perfect seven of seven from the field to finish with 14 points.
Derby also rebounded much better than they have recently and their ball distribution was better than Thunder’s, with almost twice as many assists.
“I was absolutely delighted with that performance,” said Derby’s head coach Matt Shaw. “It’s a huge win for us, because this is always such a tough place to win.”
Derby got off to a great start, with seven unanswered points, but the remainder of the opening period was tight, with Derby’s lead peaking at 27-22 before a basket from Worthing’s Tom Ward cut that advantage to 29-27 at the end of the first.
Derby built a seven-point lead to start the second but Worthing went on a 15-3 run to lead 42-37 to prompt a time-out. Coach Shaw got the response he was looking for, as a triple from Ward-Hibbert and a threepoint play from Smith put his side back in front by one.
The scores were tied at 53-53 going into half-time but Derby dominated the third at both ends to move 74-69 ahead going into the final quarter and when a three-point play from Arogbo was followed up by a score from Smith early in the fourth, Derby had quickly stretched their advantage to 10 points.
Their lead twice peaked at 12 but Worthing were not finished and Trailblazers were clinging on to an 89-85 lead with one minute to go.
Both sides turned the ball over and it was 89-87 with six seconds remaining when Worthing called time-out and Shaw made a bold call.
“We decided to go for a zone defence on their final possession, which was a bit of a gamble but it meant we could protect the basket and Oli was able to get a critical block,” he said.
That block prevented Ziare Taylor from tying the scores and Worthing had to foul to stop the clock. Smith sank both free-throws and although there was still time for Brendan Okoronkwo to score a consolation basket on the buzzer, it was too late for Thunder. Alex Haley rises to score for Derby Trailblazers Women at the Clarence Wiggins Sports Centre but their WNBL Division Two match ended in a 59-53 defeat to Nottingham Trent University.