Basketball twos take flight
LAST THURSDAY evening, an intrepid band of Oxford second-team basketballers descended on RAF Brize Norton writes James Brown.
The Twos got off to a fast start, despite a faltering zone offence, with Mokades improvising off the set play and hitting the cutting Andreopoulos with five straight assists in the paint. However, the Twos' hesitancy on the offensive end was matched by weak, sloppy defence at the other end of the floor and the Brize team was able to stay in the game.
Down at the half, the Brize lead remained intact at a stubborn ten for several minutes as Anderson matched the inside scoring of Andreopoulos and Kansou's drives score-for-score. The turning point came when Steel switched to the Brize star and held him scoreless for a four-minute period. The hero of the turnaround was Andrea Berni, who scored a dramatic coast-to-coast drive plus the attendant free throw, pulled down several huge rebounds, and scored with a ten-foot jumpshot, a dramatic cross-court drive and a scooped layup in a crucial five minutes.
With five minutes left, the Twos had opened up a five-point lead and never looked back. Andreopoulos ended on 35, while Berni secured a career best 15 to show how his summer training is paying off. Kansou got 12, with Bain-Vete and Mokades chalking up 11 each. Mokades played a full 35 minutes, despite his lenghty lay off, and his consistent play was marred only by missed free throws at the very end. Andreopolous was clearly the linchpin on the night, and looks an adequate replacement for the now departed Crispin Ovenden.
4th Nov 1999