Basketball: Three in a row for Perth Phoenix

Nov 20 2009 by Our Correspondent, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

PERTH Phoenix endured another busy week with everyone apart from the Senior Men in action.

First up over the weekend were the Cadet Men who were in action against Glasgow Rens at Notre Dame high school.

The game was close from the start with both teams trying to work each other out and playing the field with contained basketball.

Rens just shaded the quarter by one point at 14–13. Coach Legge felt his young squad had more to offer and challenged them to raise their performance in the second quarter.

This coincided with a strange decision from the Rens coach to rest three of the players that started the game.

Phoenix won the quarter 24–15 and went in to the half-time break up by eight points.

Phoenix came out from the interval scoring freely and again won the quarter by 24–15 allowing them to stretch their lead to 17pts by the end of the third quarter.

Although Rens won the final quarter by five points Phoenix had done enough in the middle periods of the game to get the job done and won for the third week in a row.

The score finished up 77–66 in favour of Phoenix. Top scorer in the game for Phoenix was Jack Nicholson with 38pnts and he was well supported by Jake Warrington who chipped in with 26pnts.

Phoenix Junior Men got back on track this weekend with a controlled performance against Glasgow Rens.

Again, the game was close in the opening exchanges and Phoenix had only managed to develop a 5point lead by the end of the first quarter of the back of some excellent offensive play.

Rens adapted in the second quarter and were able to find the gaps in the Phoenix full court press allowing them to win the quarter 13–12.

Rens wanted to make their home court advantage pay and played aggressively throughout the third period attacking the heart of the Phoenix defence and fighting for every loose ball.

By the end of the quarter Rens had taken a 3pt lead in the game. Phoenix played with excellence in the final period and Rens were lost for a reply allowing Phoenix to win the quarter by 19pts at 22–3.

Phoenix Cadette women took the short trip down the road to Edinburgh on Sunday to play Polonia Phoenix.

Phoenix started brightly and were competitive in the opening exchanges, but Polonia made their physical presence felt towards the end of the quarter and opened up a 9pt first quarter lead.

Phoenix then had a quarter to forget in the second period as Polonia won it 22–7. After the interval their was a glimmer of hope for Phoenix as they executed well in offence and made themselves difficult to beat. Polonia struggled to break down the resolute Phoenix defence and the Perth side won the quarter by 6pts.

However this was not to be enough for Phoenix and Polonia closed out the game in the final period winning overall by 74–41.

Again inconsistency had thwarted the girls which is something the squad is going to have to eliminate from their performance to enable them to win more games this season.

In addition this week the Senior Women beat Arbroath Musketeers 74–51 on Wednesday evening.

This was brought about by a great team display, with solid defence from Phoenix throughout the game.

Offensively, there was good link up play that created a number of scoring opportunities, many of which were converted.

This weekend the Cadet Men and Junior Men have their longest journeys of the season as they travel to Marr College in Troon to play the Tornadoes, while the Cadette women host St Mirren at Perth Academy with a 1pm tip-off.