Third Division Central

Aces WBC: 28

Warwickshire Bears 2: 33

Bears took their winning start to the season on the road to Aylesbury with a weakened team due to injuries and absenteeism.   This was going to be hard game from the start, against an Aces team who had come down a division from last season. True to expectation, Aces gave the Bears a tough game right from the tip off.  The Bears played a tough defence in the first quarter, which restricted the Aces to only four points, whilst running up a healthy lead of 16 points.  The second quarter saw the Aces come out and play a full court press to take advantage of the superior numbers and squad they had to tire the Bears out and their lack of bench players.  With the Aces pressing this took affect and  this limited the Bears to any chances at the Aces basket, and gave the Aces the opportunity to chip away at the Bears early lead, with the both teams going into the half time break with the scores Aces 14 – 22 Bears 2.

The third quarter again was a case of Aces playing a pressing game and the Bears trying to break it down, but this only lead to a stalemate with none of the teams taking control and the Bears holding on to their earlier lead, going into the last quarter with a slight lead of Aces 20 – 29 Bears 2.  The last quarter saw Aces come out and give one last push to get back into the game, and the Bears hanging on and tiring as the minutes ticked down.  The Bears were, however, able to hang on and finish  as narrow winners, the final score being Aces 28 – 33 Bears 2.

After the game coach Masterson said “  I’d like to congratulate the Aces today who pushed us all the way today.  Whilst it was a scrappy win, I’m still happy with the effort the Bears put in today and how they battled to keep the win to the last Buzzer.”