BCB League
Derby Trailblazers 91 (33, 52, 70)
Worthing Thunder 83 (19, 29, 56)
Derby Trailblazers booked their place in the play-offs as they held off a strong second half
challenge by Worthing Thunder to complete a 91-83 home win. It was their fifth league double of
the season and coupled with a defeat for London Cavaliers away to Reading Rockets on Sunday, it
means Derby are now joint seventh in the standings with three games remaining.
Jai Pathmarajah led the scoring with 26 points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals, but it
was the dominance of Mo Walker and Rob Marsden in the paint which probably clinched the win.
Finishing with 21 points, 14 rebounds, five assists and two blocks, the pair totally won the battle
against Worthing’s Matthew Bryan-Amaning, who was held to eleven points and seven rebounds.
Connor Washington went five of eight from beyond the arc to finish with 15 points, adding two
rebounds and two assists, while Raheem May-Thompson scored 14 points, adding six rebounds,
three assists, two steals and one block.
Worthing were severely understrength, with Adrian Scarborough already back in America after a
season-ending injury and Bode Adeluola ruled out with a cracked rib. They were led by Dan Evans,
with 26 points, nine rebounds, three assists and four steals, while Justin Hopkins had 25 points,
two rebounds and three assists.
A blistering first quarter played a huge role in Derby’s success in a game which they led from the
opening tip to the final buzzer. They took the period 33-19 which gave them a degree of comfort
which became a vital cushion when Worthing stepped up in the second half, taking the third
quarter 27-18 and the fourth 27-21.
They outshot Worthing from all areas of the court, including an impressive nine out of nine at the
free-throw line and they also won the rebounding battle 43-31, as well as dishing off 28 assists
compared to Thunder’s eleven.
After Derby won the tip, Pathmarajah opened the scoring and it was the start of a 17-5 run which
was capped off by consecutive three-pointers from Walker off the back of pin-point passes from
Charlie Brown, who finished with twelve assists.
Unsurprisingly, Thunder took their first time-out of the game after the second of those shots, with
4’55” on the clock.
When play resumed, Pathmarajah drove inside for a lay-up which was matched by Elliot Dadds
before Washington drained his first triple of the game. After a basket from Evans and a free-throw
from Bryan-Amaning, Washington sank two more long range shots, either side of a three-pointer
from Elijah Maynard.
The first quarter ended with an alley-oop dunk between Brown and May-Thompson and a pair of
free-throws from Bryan-Amaning, which took the score to 33-19. A much slower second quarter
was edged 19-10 by the Trailblazers, with a three-pointer from Brown extending the lead to 52-29
at half-time.
With a place in the play-offs at risk for whichever team lost the game, it was always likely that
Worthing would come out fighting after the break and they did just that. May-Thompson opened the
scoring with a jump-shot, but the next eight points went the way of Thunder and prompted a Derby
time-out with 6’43” on the clock and the score reading 54-37.
A tip-in lay-up from Walker ended the visitors’ run and the next few minutes remained tight as the
two sides exchanged baskets before Worthing closed the quarter with a 12-4 run which cut the gap
to 70-56.
The gap remained around 14 points over the opening five minutes of the fourth, but Worthing
weren’t ready to give up the fight that easily. A three-pointer from the inspirational Evans sparked
an 11-4 run which cut the gap to 85-78 with 2’26” on the clock.
A jump-shot from Pathmarajah provided a degree of relief, but not as much as a subsequent block
by Walker. Evans then sank a pair of free-throws before both sides turned the ball over and
Worthing called a time-out at 87-80 with 58 seconds remaining.
Derby missed their next shot, but a crucial steal by Pathmarajah led to a foul and a pair of
successful free-throws to stretch the lead to nine points. Thunder responded with a triple from
Dadds before a dunk from Walker sealed the eight-point win for the Trailblazers.
Head Coach Kyle Henderson was delighted to have secured a place in the play-offs with three
games to spare, despite a difficult season which was plagued by injuries and the departure of two
overseas players:
“Saturday night was a great performance, particularly the first half which was an appropriate
display of what this team is capable of. I was proud of the way they got out there in such an
important game where a place in the play-offs was the reward. To have a first half like that was a
real testament to the guys’ determination.
“Naturally, it would have been nice to keep that going in a second half, but we know Worthing are a
resilient team with guys who have a lot of experience in this league who know how to claw their
way back into games where they’re down by big margins, so it was nice that we did enough to hold
on and secure our place in the play-offs.
“We shot the ball very well from outside the perimeter and I’ve always known we had guys who
could do that. In the first half, they sat in a zone which invited us to shoot plenty of uncontested
shots, so I’m really happy with how well we shot the ball and how well we distributed the ball.
“I think Matthew Bryan-Amaning had one of his best games of the season when we played at their
place, so I think both Mo and Rob wanted to get back at him and Mo in particular was outstanding
both on offence and defence. He shot the ball well and looked after it in the post and he was
aggressive when getting to the basket and I couldn’t be more pleased with the way he performed.
“Rob also did a solid job despite not playing as much as he sometimes does, but it’s difficult to get
him on when Mo is playing so well, but whenever he came on, he battled and played physical
basketball which made it hard for MBA to get going.
“Jai really stepped up in terms of scoring, Charlie was fantastic with his distribution with ten assists
in the first half and Raheem was solid at both ends like he’s been all season, so I was really
pleased with the performance,” he said.
Derby: Pathmarajah 26, Walker 21, Washington 15, May-Thompson 14, Smith 6, Brown 5, Marsden 4,
Norman 0, Burr DNP, Lawrence DNP, Pastor DNP, Tallon DNP.
Worthing: Evans 26, Hopkins 25, Bryan-Amaning 11, Dadds 10, Maynard 9, Lomeka 2, Price 0, Lashley
DNP.
Derby Trailblazers return to the Clarence Wiggins Sports Centre next Saturday when the league
leading Reading Rockets are the visitors for a 7:30 PM tip-off. Tickets available here – CLICK ME!
Written by Nigel Cash.
Photo credit – Michael Taylor.
