Sun 18th March: London United boost play-off hopes with win over Riders..

Sunday 18th March, 2007

BBL CHAMPIONSHIP

London United 89-81 Leicester Riders  

QUARTERSCORES:

24-25, 44-39, 62-56, 89-81

GAME TOP SCORERS:

London Utd: Johnson (30), Capers (15), Feggins (14), Knight (12), L. Williams (8), J. Williams (6), Ogunjimi (4), Haif, Irish.

Leicester Riders: Alleyne (30), McGee (19), Herriman (10), A. Williams (10), Mills (6), Y. Williams (4), Paternostro, Lamble

London United turned over Leicester Riders for the 4th time this season to break a 5 match losing run and consolidate 7th spot in the BBL Championship. This crucial win also gives Utd an excellent chance of making the play-offs in with only 5 games remaining in the regular season. This was a great team performance following the loss to title-chasing Sheffield Sharks on Friday night and with Leicester arriving on the back of a comfortable home win against Chester Jets the previous night.

The evening started with Utd in celebratory mood as Tarick Johnson received his BBL Player of the Month Award for February.

Johnson then proceeded to put in another match-winning performance, draining 30pts as Coaches Sam Stiller and Jon Mell emphasised the need to minimise the 3pt threat posed by Terrance McGee and Yorrick Williams who had demolished Utd from beyond the arc just in Leicester's emphatic 30pt win over London just 3 weeks earlier.

Johnson opened the scoring and proceeded to sink 8pts in the first quarter that proved tight throughout. This time, it was Utd that came up with the big triples as Junior Williams and LaTaryl Williams hit 9pt as Utd took an early 9pt advantage. Riders came back strongly thanks to centre Andrew Alleyne who scored 10pts inside aided by Adam Williams with 7pts who started the Leicester come-back with a trey of his own. Despite 5pts from Bryant Feggins, Riders ended the quarter with an 11-2 run and a 25/24 lead.

Riders continued their dominance at the start of the 2nd stanza with McGee and Alleyne adding a further 7 unanswered points before Marlin Capers stopped the rot and combined with Johnson to trigger a 20/2 Utd rip, iced by 2 from the line courtesy of Steve Ogunjimi. Capers hit 11pts in the quarter as Utd played some excellent team basketball. However, a low scoring and tense final 2 minute saw Leicester claw their way back into contention with the final 4pts of the half to leave London up by 5pts (44-39) at the half.

The crucial 3rd period saw Utd start strongly as Feggins sank 6 unanswered points whilst Marcus Knight put in great work at both ends of the court against his old Leicester team-mates. His 7pts in the quarter were crowned with an excellent steal followed by a drive to basket and one-handed dunk to bring the crowd to its feet. For Riders once more Alleyne pretty much stood alone with 7pts. With United minimising the 3pt threat from Yorrick and McGee, young Darren Mills hit a crucial triple for Leicester to bring the gap to single figures and trigger a 7pt run to narrow the Utd lead to 6pts going into the final quarter

The last stanza saw both sides trading runs. Once more a McGee triple and more points inside from Alleyne got Riders within a point of Utd. Johnson then hit a crucial trey to set Utd off on a 9pt rip of their own courtesy of Capers, Knight and Ogunjimi as the lead stretched to 10pts. Mills then hit his second from beyond the arc followed up with more points inside from the unstoppable Alleyne. McGee and Delme Herriman drove into the paint to draw Utd fouls and reduce the deficit to just 5pts.

But once more, United pulled away thanks to 2 triples from Johnson punctuated by 2pts from Capers as London kept Riders at arms length with an 8pt cushion. Riders just couldn't be finished off as McGee once more brought Leicester within 5pts. However, United finally nailed the win with an "and-one" from the excellent Marcus Knight, driving to the basket, sinking the points and drawing the foul.

With a 7pt gap and less than a minute remaining, Alleyn hit a quick basket to give Utd possession. The Riders full-court press failed to disrupt London's possession and Leicester then proceeding to retreat to their own key and inexplicably allow Tarick Johnson to keep the ball unopposed as he ran 20 seconds off the clock and find LaTaryl Williams under the basket for the final Utd points of the match.

Fittingly, Andrew Alleyne hit a further basket for Leicester as United took the crucial win by 89-81.

This was an excellent team effort from London. Spearheaded once again by 30pts from Tarick Johnson, crucially other players stepped up as Marlin Capers, Bryant Feggins and Marcus Knight all made double figure contributions. Lataryl Williams and Junior Williams shared 4 triples, whilst Steve Ogunjimi, Laurent Irish and Farid Haif boxed out to great effect as the out-sized United line-up pulled down 33 defencive boards. They also contributed to the 15 assists and hussled to prevent Yorrick and McGee from providing a real 3pt threat.

Infact, Yorrick only contributed 4pts whilst the ever-dangerous McGee was kept to under 20pts. United actually out-shot Riders 24/18 from beyond the arc and also hit over 80% from the charity strip.

The glaring exception for Riders was the outstanding Andrew Alleyne who matched Johnson's 30pts as well as pulling down 18 rebounds at both ends of the court (11 offencive, 7 defencive). Delme Herriman also stood out with 12pts and 10 rebounds. However, Leicester were really found wanting in this must-win match, perhaps suffering from their previous night's work against Chester.

The win leaves United with a 3-1 Championship record over Riders (4-1 for the season) and means that London are guaranteed to finish above Leicester if the two sides end up with an identical win/loss record. United next face Plymouth Raiders at home next Saturday, followed by another crucial match with Chester Jets away on Sunday. United v Plymouth has proved to be an excellent match up this season with Plymouth narrowly winning all 3 previous encounters. Utd go into the Chester match leading the head-to-head record 2-1. However, a 26pt win over United just before Christmas will give Jets the advantage should they win next Sunday.

At present, London and Leicester are still favourites to make the play-offs as both are 2 matches ahead of Chester. Another crucial weekend coming up!!

Website content copyright of London United Basketball Club, 2006-07. Website design copyright of WebElementary 2006-07