Bath Left Foaming
IFFLEY ROAD SPORTS Centre was the venue for a titanic Premier League basketball clash last Wednesday as the Blues, currently in second position, took on third place Bath. Whilst the Blues held the home court advantage, Bath were keen to avenge the 9-point loss Oxford handed them in November.
Clearly motivated by this, they came out with guns blazing against a relaxed Oxford side. At the end of the first quarter, Bath had chalked up an 18-13 advantage as 6'9" English Universities centre Barry Lamble was out to do business as usual.
Solid offence from German forward Kons and scoring machine Jay Sexton kept the Blues close to Bath. However, in the second quarter Bath began to extend their lead on the basis of hard defence (not helped by poor play from the Blues) and hot shooting by Nic Jones and Richard Bishop. Brad Henderson had begun to hit his shots for the blues, though, and brought Oxford back from a seemingly Sisyphean 17-point deficit to just 10 by halftime.
In the second half, following a roasting from ex-paratrooper coach Phil Kelly, the Blues improved their level of play. Bath were more than equal to the challenge though, Bishop and Lamble draining shots all over the place to keep them up by ten for most of the quarter. A sexton three pointer cut the lead to seven by the end of the third period.
The fourth quarter saw the Blues back to their old selves. Guards Siale Bain-Vete and Aris Papathanos began to score and the Blues clawed their way back in the last five minutes from being 10 points down to take a 2-point lead.
In the last minute, Bath forward Largomarsino scored a crucial 2-point shot inside the key to level the score at 78 apiece. As the clock expired, a demoralised Bath had to face another five minutes of play to decide the winner.
In the overtime period, Oxford showed their supremacy as they smoothly outscored Bath 13-6 to make the 91:84 win look much easier than it really was. Consigning Bath to third place in the Premiership, the Blues basketballers now look to the deciding game of the league on Sunday versus Marjons, the team that beat them by a single point in last year's BUSA final. Follow the action on www.oubbc.com.
13th Feb 2003