For the second successive road game in as many weeks, the U18 Tomcats got off to another slow start on Saturday against Essex & Herts Leopards before pulling away to a decisive 97-76 win.
The slow start for this game couldn’t be blamed on unforgiving rims or poor finishes but rather a lack of defensive ball pressure which allowed the Leopards to get out on a 9-2 run in the first two minutes of the game. They made six 3-pointers in the first period, our defence allowing their shooters good looks at the basket. The quick start by the Leopards put us momentarily on the back foot and had us chasing a 17-29 first period score.

By the start of the second period, the mental part of our game joined our bodies on the court and with tighter defence and more energy in the game clawed away at the deficit and finished the first half up one, 43-42. Quite a high first half score, not being accustomed to allowing so many points defensively at the half. But the half time score reflected the poor start at the beginning of the game.

We made a slight defensive adjustment to begin the third and try to shift the momentum towards our type of game to try and open up a lead. The Leopards, still hung over from their six 3-pointer opening period, came out in the third and continued to hoist up 3-pointer after 3-pointer which  were no where on target. And with our tighter defensive boxing out and rebounding, we were able to run the floor to get some easy conversions to build a bit of a gap. The Leopards began to press defensively to try and create some quick scores and reduce the deficit. But we were able to stay composed and built up an 11 point third period cushion to finish 68-57.

Going into the fourth period, it became evident that the Leopards outside shooting had stalled and not being able to penetrate, they were forced to take shots that did not land on target. Our ball pressure and rebounding limited them to one attempt on each offensive effort, and this opened up our running game considerably.

We started slow, picked up the defensive intensity to overcome an early deficit and finished strong. A good team performance, but not the way we would like to play each game. Slow starts, from here on in need to be avoided.

Top scorers: Ethan Dixon 26, Jack Spiller 23, Liam Eley 15, Tom Hunt 13.