Sat, 17th Feb: London United gain revenge on Chester Jets..

Saturday 17th February, 2007

BBL CHAMPIONSHIP

London United 106-99 Chester Jets   

QUARTERSCORES:

15-24, 39-57, 65-73, 89-89, 106-99 (OT1)

GAME TOP SCORERS:

London United (Tarick Johnson 35, Junior Williams 24, Marcus Knight 18)

Chester Jets (Alto Virgil 23, Jazwyn Cowan 20, James Hamilton 17)

London United took a significant step toward securing a play-off birth following an amazing fight back to defeat Chester Jets in overtime at SPACe last Saturday night.

Without ever holding the lead in regular time and still 13pts down with less than 2 mins on the clock, Utd's skeleton squad pulled through against the odds.

The build up to this vital clash couldn't have gone worse for coaches Tony Garbelotto and Sam Stiller. Captain Chris Haslam was unable to play due to an ankle injury picked up in training on Friday. With Bryant Feggins still not ready to return following his operation, things got even worse for London with new recruits American LaTaryl Williams and Frenchman Farid Haif failing to get official clearance in time to play. This left a massively under-sized Utd squad with just 5 players, forcing Steve Ogunjimi to play for the first time since his major injury picked up before Christmas. This boosted the squad to 6 but of these players, Marlin Capers and Junior Williams were also carrying niggling injuries that had the potential to limit their effectiveness.

As with the build-up, so with the match as second-bottom Chester Jets opened up a 16-24 first quarter lead. With the BBL's two top scorers Tarick Johnson and Jaz Cowan up against each-other, Johnson took the first stanza personal points honours with 12. However, 7 each from Alto Virgil and Hamilton gave Jets an excellent opening. The second quarter began disastrously for Utd as Chester's McCullough inspired a 10pt rip. The prolific American hit two treys countered by Junior Williams, before Jets player/coach Billy Singleton and Cowan piled on more misery for London. With only Laurent Irish able to stop the rot, by the 5th minute Chester's advantage was up to 24pts. Utd managed to stem the Chester tide with treys from Williams and Johnson. At the end of the half, Utd managed to pull back the Chester lead to 18pts (39/57). But with 10pts in the quarter, McCullough had begun to dominate and coaches Garbelotto and Stiller needed to find a way of stopping him in the second half.

 

With London's depleted side having to employ the pull-court press, the 3rd quarter began with both sides trading points, before Johnson managed to make inroads to the Chester lead with another trey. Junior Williams and Johnson then hit their 3rd and 5th baskets from beyond the arc supported by 2pts from Marlin Capers to reduce the arrears to 10pts. Marcus Knight then hit 3 consecutive free-throws and combined with Junior Williams for another 7pt run. With Chester reeling, Simpson and Singleton hit the final points of the stanza as a 20pt lead had dwindled to single figures. The press had worked thanks to fantastic energy from the 6 men of Utd and all the momentum was now with the home side.

 

However, Chester regrouped. The final period saw both teams trading points as Chester managed to actually increase their lead to 13pts going into the final two minutes of the match. But Junior Williams and Steve Ogunjimi combined to hit three consecutive 3 pointers with no answer as Utd's stifling defence dried up Jet's scoring threat. Marcus Knight and Williams then drove into the paint for more points to tie the match. United even had a chance to win the match as Johnson missed a lay-up on the buzzer, much to the amusement of the Utd players who were now completely confident of winning in overtime thanks to 11 final quarter points from Junior Williams. The team defence of Utd was also so effective that McCullough was unable to add to his 17 first half points.

 

With both teams in foul trouble, the 5mins of over time was dominated by free-throws. Knight and Johnson gave Utd the lead for the first time in the match. Singleton reduced the advantage to 2pts before Capers and Ogunjimi hit 5 from 6 free-throws. Johnson took his personal points total to 35 with his 6th trey of the night to establish an 8pt cushion going into the final minute. Ato Virgil gave Chester some hope with 6pts before Marcus Knight closed the game scoring a further 4 from 4 from the line.

 

This was a phenomenal come back from London. Five players made double figure contributions whilst Laurent Irish hit 6 invaluable points as well as putting in a great all-round show with 5 rebounds and 3 assists. A completely out sized Utd line-up took 60% of defencive rebounds and hit 80% of second half free-throws when there was no margin for error. Tarick Johnson showed just why he's more than the BBL's top scorer with 35pts, pulling down 9 rebounds and contributing 4 assists. Marcus Knight hit 18pts and made 7 steals. Marlin Capers hit 12pts despite injury; Steve Ogunjimi gave the side great energy and enthusiasm as well as 11pts despite not having played or trained consistently for 2 months. However, without doubt Junior Williams was Utd's most valuable player. Williams scored 24pts including vital treys down the stretch. Point-guard and at 5'10" the smallest man on court, Williams pulled down an amazing 8 rebounds (5 offencive), made 3 steals and 6 assists. London, statistically the worst 3pt shooters in the BBL, hit 42pts from beyond the arc and when under real pressure.

 

This win helps secure the 7th play-off birth for Utd and puts daylight between them, Chester and Leicester Riders. London United meet Riders in Leicester next Sat 24/2 in another vital match for both sides. Utd hope to stretch their winning run over Riders to 4 having won the previous three matches this season. All of these have been incredibly close encounters.

 

Chris Morris

20/2/07

 

 

 

 

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