Sheffield Sharks v Rotherham Hawks

December 5th 2009 – 12noon

Thomas Rotherham College

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With the sun shining the U15s made the short journey to meet the Rotherham Hawks with a feeling of optimism and a hope that this game would not be too challenging, at the same time knowing never to underestimate the opposition. Tommy Price was out of action and on the bench throughout the game due to horrendous blisters from running a cross-country race the day before. However, thanks to the U14s, Marcus Welsh, Tyler Gayle, Daniel Jenkinson and Josh Edwards the Sharks still had a strong bench of 9 players.

Tip off was easily won by the Sharks Henryk Krajniewski who tapped it straight into Lemar Darien-Campbell’s hands and Lemar drove and cut straight into the basket effortlessly to put the first 2 points onto Sheffield’s scoreboard, followed by a full court drive by Dennis and a further 2 points. By the 3rd minute Rotherham were on 4 points and Sheffield on 10 after a super assist by Wesley Skaines to Sheffield’s Henryk Krajniewski. In this first quarter despite getting to the basket the Rotherham side were unable to turn them into points as the Sheffield defence held strong.

In the 2nd quarter Rotherham managed to close the gap a little, going on to win the quarter by 2 points. In this quarter Dale Stennett had an excellent run of baskets and free throw-shots, adding 12points of the 18 scored. The admirable defence by Josh Edwards and 2 steals by Marcus Welsh hampered any chance of Rotherham posing any real threat.

At half-time with a 12 point lead and a tiring starting 5 Daniel Jenkinson came into the game and receiving a long pass he beautifully made a drive to basket and scored. In this quarter we saw excellent defending skills from Lemar, as well as steals by Henryk and Dennis. Although Rotherham managed to get five free-throws they only managed to get 3 points out of a possible 10.

In the final quarter the starting five took to court with renewed determination to keep the pressure on, however, Rotherham made an easy long pass to their number 10 who scored, followed by another basket in quick succession. However, although the Rotherham team held their heads high and fought gallantly they were unable to push through Sheffield’s defence to cause any real worry. By the last three minutes of this quarter 4 of the starting 5 were on the bench resting and it was left to Tyler Gayle, Daniel Jenkinson, Josh Edwards and Marcus Welsh, all u14s playing up, to hold Sheffield’s lead along with Wesley Skaines from the starting 5; they put a further 9 points onto Sheffield’s total, 6 of these points in the last 50 seconds. Well done boys!

Stats: Dennis Kaka (32pts 5rbd 3assist 2steals 1block), Dale Stennett (22pts 9rbd 1assist), Henryk Krajniewski (10pts 11rbd 3steals), Lemar Darien-Campbell (8pts 4rbd 1assist 3steals 2blocks), Marcus Welsh (8pts 2rbd 2steals 1block), Daniel Jenkinson (8pts 1assist), Josh Edwards (1pt), Tyler Gayle (1rbd).