LSBU Brixton Topcats kept up their outside chance of winning Division Two with a 70-64 home win against University of Birmingham, but head coach Andy Powlesland was far from satisfied.

 

"We were poor today and maybe it was a combination of a different look to our team and the players looking forwards to the British University Championships at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield next weekend," he said.

 

"There was certainly not the intensity there that I would have liked to have seen today, although I know that will not be a problem in Sheffield."

 

In the reverse fixture in December, Topcats won 118-65 and although competing without top scorer Avelino Antonio, who was serving a one game ban, and with Paul Mundy-Castle still nursing an injury, it was a different look Topcats that took to the floor this time around. 

 

With a different starting five, the chemistry was off and Topcats allowed Birmingham to race out to a 10 point lead early in the first quarter. The Topcats made a few adjustments and brought 7ft centre Aivars Bruveris into the game for the first time. He made an instant impact scoring 8 points in three minutes, including a monster 'and one' dunk down the lane. The score was 22-17 to Birmingham going into the second quarter  

 

Ed Saayeng opened up the second with a three for Topcats but this was immediately answered by one from Salisbury of Birmingham, which set the tone for the quarter with Birmingham eventually extending their lead to 38-30 at half-time.

 

The third quarter saw Topcats field a smaller unit to play pressure man to man defence and this tactic immediately saw dividends with Saayeng and Adorian doing the damage offensively with Anebo providing the defensive energy. 

 

A run of five straight points for Adorian saw Brixton take their first lead of the game at 44-42 in the sixth minute of the quarter and further baskets from Anebo, Lewis and Garcia ensured a Topcats' lead going into the final quarter at 50-48. 

 

Saayeng again opened the second half with a three pointer followed by two hard drives inside for four points from Karolis Petkus. Birmingham tried to respond through Andrew Blakeway, but two more 3 pointers from Saayeng saw Brixton home to a 6 point victory 70-64.

 

Powlesland said, "We were made to work really hard today and apart from Saayeng and Bruveris the team really didn't get going. We certainly missed Antonio and Mundy-Castle today, but it was a victory and keeps us in with an outside shout for the title and in one of the promotion spots. We have three league games left and all we can do is win all of them to go into the playoffs with some momentum."

 

Top scorers for Brixton were Saayeng with 17, Bruveris 10 and Petkus 10. Blakeway lead Birmingham with 20 and Salisbury chipped in with 18 points.

 

Mansfield Giants took a big step towards home court advantage in the playoffs with a 106-100 victory at Edmonton Storm.

 

The first quarter was a close fought affair, but their cause was not helped by forward Dan Watts picking up two early fouls, but with Michal Cielsa and Paul Kelly combining for 18 points, they led 26-25 at the first break.

 

Mathew Martin and Ciesla scored the first six points of the second quarter to open up a small gap, but this was quickly rescinded as John MacCauley and Mansour Mbye scored the next six points for the Storm. 

 

However, Giants had no answer for Edmonton captain Tayo Odulaja, who had 11 in the quarter as his team went into the locker room leading 50-49.

 

After the break, Mansfield's defence was probably the best they played all game but Edmonton still scored 20 points in the quarter. The Storm, however, went away from their team basketball and decided to try and win the game individually. The Giants reply was to score 30 points themselves to lead 79-70 at the final break.

 

Giants held their opponents to only three points in the first three minutes of the final period and Ciesla's fifth trey of the game stretched the lead out to 13.

 

A double technical for Odulaja saw Martin make two of the first three attempts before he picked up his third technical foul (his fifth personal) and he was ejected from the game. The game was then held up for a number of minutes as Odulaja refused to leave the court and allow the game to continue.

 

When he finally did leave the Edmonton coach was issued with a technical foul for delay of game and Martin was to return to the line for a further five free throws. Martin ended up making five of the eight attempts and when Dan Watts nailed a trey on the resulting possession the lead had risen to 17 points with five minutes remaining.

 

The ejection of their captain seemed to galvanise Edmonton and disrupt the Giants as Milambo fouled out and the Storm went on a 17-3 run to leave themselves down by only five points with 2 minutes remaining.

 

Edmonton was forced to foul to stop the game clock in the final minutes and Ciesla and Dan Richards iced the game from the line.

 

Assistant coach Steve Baxter commented, "This was a huge result for us and we have now won eight of our last ten games. This is the stage of the season where we need to be playing at our best. 

 

"The heart these guys showed to me today really made me proud. Edmonton has as much, if not more, individual talent as any team in the league. Michal [Ciesla] showed us again today he is a top class player. 

 

"Lately we have asked him to take on a slightly different role, which involves getting other players more involved and he stepped up to that. Today we needed him to score and he got 30."

 

Martin added 24 points for Giants, with Milambo finishing on 16 and Kelly 13. Mbye finished with 26 for Storm, while Odulaja's early departure didn't stop him adding 22 and Leon Bernard chipped in with 20.

 

 

Mar 6 2010	Glyndwr Nets	75	v	96	Durham Wildcats
Mar 6 2010	Edmonton Storm	100	v	106	Mansfield Giants
Mar 6 2010	Medway Park Crusaders	85	v	67	Plymouth Marjon
Mar 6 2010	Team Northumbria	87	v	74	Birmingham A's  Stats
Mar 7 2010	Brixton Topcats	70	v	64	University Of Birmingham