ABERVALLEY HURRICANES V RCT GLADIATORS MATCH REPORT
RCT Gladiators 2nds 48 – 49 Abervalley Hurricanes
After two disappointing losses for the Hurricanes at the start of the season, we travelled in to the valleys to take on another new team to the league, the RCT Gladiators 2nds. Abervalley were unfortunately missing their captain Ryan Williams, Lloyd Owen & Jay Jones for the game. After the two tough losses recently, Coach Williams took a change in tactics with a new starting line-up for this game of David Hale, Pierre Leenhouts, Owain Sigsworth, Torin Hughes & Jay Mason. On the bench were Cai Ellis, Justyn Hart, Samuel Picone, Corey Mcintyre & Thomas Pepper.
Q1: RCT Gladiators 2nds 9 – 16 Abervalley Hurricanes
The first quarter got off to a slow start for both teams with the first baskets not coming for a minute or two in to the game. Abervalley’s tight defence keeping the shooters of RCT Gladiators at bay, but struggling to take advantage down the other end of the court. Some great work in the post by both David Hale & Pierre Leenhouts started to cause problems for RCT. Quicker substitutions were being called in this game than previously which was working to the Hurricanes advantage as this kept the scoreboard ticking over.
Q2: RCT Gladiators 2nds 24 – 28 Abervalley Hurricanes
At the start of the second quarter, RCT managed to find themselves back in the game with some quick ball movement and good drives taking advantage of some sloppy defence. A big two pointer that also drew the foul and successful free throw from Corey Mcintyre managed to inject some pace back in to the Abervalley team. A bad start but good finish to the quarter ensured Abervalley held the lead going in to half time.
Q3: RCT Gladiators 2nds 35 – 42 Abervalley Hurricanes
The third quarter again saw a slow start for Abervalley, half time potentially taking some of the intensity away from us. Some great pressure defence from Jay Mason particularly stopped RCT from taking advantage of this as on more than one occasion he caused them to turn the ball over in their own half. Slightly better offence down in the post and some good ball work from Cai Ellis built the lead back up for Abervalley ensuring we took a 7 point cushion in to half time.
Q4: RCT Gladiators 2nds 48 – 49 Abervalley Hurricanes
After being in this situation before of having a tight lead heading in to the fourth, the team knew that they couldn’t let it slip. The quarter was tense for both teams, with each pushing for the win forcing the offence. Some great work in the post from David Hale which was followed by a huge 3 pointer gave Abervalley a bit of distance. RCT managed to force their way back in to the game with some sloppy defence from the Hurricanes allowing some easy drives to basket. A time-out was called by Abervalley with 1 minute to go and 1 point between the teams to take the steam away from the RCT come back. With 5 seconds left, RCT had a chance to win the game but enough pressure was put on their shooter to force the missed shot with the rebound collected and held by David Hale to run out the clock.
MVP for Abervalley as voted for by RCT Gladiators was David Hale.
Overall, after a tough start to the season, which Abervalley know themselves that they should have done better in. This was a pleasing win. It wasn’t pretty basketball; it wasn’t the best basketball we can play. However, to lead from the start of the game right through to the end was a great confidence boost. Better basketball will come from us but what is important is the win.
Well done also to RCT Gladiators 2nds. Looking at them, they are quite similar to ourselves as a young team that has time to develop and I am sure with a bit of experience going on they will win a lot of games.
Scorers
David Hale - 28
Cai Ellis - 7
Pierre Leenhouts - 6
Corey Mcintyre - 3
Torin Hughes - 2
Owain Sigsworth - 1
ABERVALLEY HURRICANES V PONTYPRIDD PANTHERS MATCH REPORT
Pontypridd Panthers 49 – 40 Abervalley Hurricanes
Last night saw Abervalley travel for their first away game this season against Local Rivals, the Pontypridd Panthers. During pre-season Abervalley faced Pontypridd twice, winning on both occasions 56 – 38 and 69 – 38.
Starting for Abervalley was David Hale (making his return from injury), Pierre Leenhouts, Owain Sigsworth, Ryan Williams (Capt.) & Cai Ellis. On the bench were Jay Mason, Lloyd Owen, Jay Jones, Justyn Hart, Torin Hughes, Samuel Picone & Thomas Pepper.
Following on from last week’s loss against Llanelli this was a game Abervalley really wanted to win and stamp there authority on. Unfortunately this was not the case throughout the game. Pontypridd have come a long way since those pre-season games and used their experience to huge advantage which nullified the normally quick and effective Abervalley Offence. Pontypridd played a tight zone defence throughout the game which Abervalley could not find their way through. This forced the Hurricanes to take shots from outside the key which unfortunately wouldn’t drop all night. Some very suspect defence from Abervalley in the first half arguably cost them this game.
The defence improved dramatically in the second half, Jay Mason showing some great hustle to force a lot of turnovers and steals. Unfortunately all this work led to nothing on the offensive side for the Hurricanes with forced shots and poor finishing giving Pontypridd the advantage.
Overall this was a bad night for Abervalley from the inexperience of the Coaching with some bad decisions, poor defence in the first half of the game and lazy offence all game costing them the win.
This takes nothing away from Pontypridd who have clearly come on leaps and bounds since pre-season with some great tight defence and some good shooting, especially in the fourth, giving them the deserved win which they clearly wanted more.
Another blip on the radar for Abervalley but with a young inexperienced team it will only get better in their first season together.
Abervalley Scorers
David Hale 10
Ryan Williams 8
Owain Sigsworth 8
Lloyd Owen 6
Pierre Leenhouts 4
Jay Mason 2
Cai Ellis 2
ABERVALLEY HURRICANES v LLANELLI STEELERS MATCH REPORT
MATCH REPORT
Sunday night finally saw the regenerated Abervalley Hurricanes return to Senior Basketball in South Wales after a few years out. Abervalley fielding a relatively inexperienced team against a now established and experienced team in the Llanelli Steelers.
Unfortunate blow for the team before the game came with the loss of David Hale and Jay Mason at the last minute.
This caused a few last minute changes to Coach Williams starting line up.
Abervalley started the game with Pierre Leenhouts, Lloyd Owen, Owain Sigsworth, Ryan Williams (Capt) and Junior Jones.
The game got off to a flying start for Abervalley who quickly established a dominance on both offence and defence in the first quarter taking a 10-0 lead before a well called Time Out from Llanelli taking some steam away from Abervalley. Following the time out Llanelli managed to pull the score back but Abervalley managed to hold the lead finishing the first quarter up by 10 points to 7.
The second quarter became a bit more even overall between both teams with baskets generally being traded. Some excellent ball movement by the team and some exceptional work in the post by Pierre Leenhouts against the much bigger Llanelli team ensured Abervalley held the lead at half time winning the quarter 12 points to 9 so at half time Abervalley had the lead at 22-16.
The 3rd quarter started off poorly for Abervalley as they started to struggle with the big Llanelli players. Abervalleys offence was rushing which lead to some sloppy play leading to nothing on the board at the start of the quarter. Some good ball movement by Llanelli lead to 2 points from the post and a big 3 pointer to bring them to within 1 point of the Hurricanes. A time out was called by Coach Williams then lead to a great turn around with baskets coming from Pierre Leenhouts, Owain Sigsworth, Ryan Williams and Corey Mcintyre getting his first ever points for Abervalley. This along with some better defence lead to the Hurricanes eventually winning the quarter 15-9.
The fourth quarter was unfortunately the Hurricanes downfall as the steam ran out. Llanelli realised this and took great advantage by getting the ball to the inside and taking advantage of the height difference to take a huge lead for the quarter. Llanelli finally took the lead for the first time in the game towards the end of the quarter. Abervalleys offence woke back up but unfortunately it wasn't enough to win the game and Llanelli ran out well deserved winners of the quarter beating us 26 points to 12 forcing the game in to overtime.
The overtime period eventually became too much for Abervalley who were now struggling to keep up with the play on the court against a Llanelli side who found a 2nd wind sensing the win.
At the end of the game Abervalley unfortunately lose 51-49.
The result cannot be argued as some great determination from Llanelli brought them back in to the game in the 4th quarter and by scoring more than half there points in the 4th quarter it just goes to show how quick a game can change.
It was a disappointing start to the league for Abervalley who have had a great pre-season.
However, the team is showing huge potential and with players due to return to the squad shortly this could still be a very successful first season for the young team.
MVP for the team, as chosen by Llanelli, was to Pierre Leenhouts and it was well deserved with his great work in the post and leading the scoring by 26 points.
Our next game is our first Road trip in the league to Abercynon LC, the home of the Pontypridd Panthers on Sunday 11th September at 6:15pm. So come along and show your support!
