Derby Trailblazers rounded the regular season off with a hard fought 85-81 home win over London
Cavaliers to make amends for a woeful 107-83 away defeat to Hemel Storm the previous night.
That result, along with wins for Yorkshire Dragons and the Cavaliers meant Derby’s quest to climb
the table was over, with an eighth-placed finish their only possibility.
BCB League
Hemel Storm 107 (33, 63, 86)
Derby Trailblazers 83 (22, 42, 60)
Photo credit – Michael Taylor.
In the game that arguably mattered the most, Derby Trailblazers slumped to their second biggest
defeat of the season as they went down 107-83 away to Hemel Storm. Wins for Yorkshire Dragons
and London Cavaliers earlier in the day had left Derby needing a pair of victories if they were to
climb the league table and earn themselves an easier playoff tie.
Instead, their inability to defend the three-point line nor shoot from beyond it themselves cost them
dearly. Nearly 60% of Hemel’s points came from beyond the arc, as they converted 21 of 37 long
range attempts, with all but one of their players connecting from deep with Brayden Inger leading
the way with six out of six.
By contrast, the Trailblazers converted just 4 out of 16 attempts, with only Connor Washington
achieving a respectable result of three out of four successful attempts. Head Coach Kyle
Henderson was the first to admit the performance wasn’t any near the levels Derby have achieved
over the past few weeks:
“Full credit to Hemel, because regardless of what kind of defence we threw at them, they were just
on fire. They hit twenty-one three-pointers, and all of their guys were knocking them down, which
made it a very difficult matchup.
“They had nothing to lose and a lot to gain from it. They wanted to give a big send-off to Jack
Burnell on his retirement, so they came out and had a little bit of fun in what was their last game of
the season and we simply didn’t perform to the standards we’ve set within the last month and a
half,” he said.
Storm were led by Brendan Inger with 29 points and 9 rebounds, with Matt Norman adding 15 and
four, Kai Walker contributing 14 and seven, while Sam Newman completed an extraordinary
double-double of 12 points and 17 assists.
Jai Pathmarajah led the Trailblazers with 26 points, while Malcolm Smith and Connor Washington
chipped in thirteen each, Mo Walker finished with 11 and Raheem May-Thompson added ten.
From a Derby perspective, the game was over almost before it began. Newman opened the
scoring with a triple before a bucket from Walker and a pair of free-throws from May-Thompson
gave the Blazers their only lead of the night at 4-3.
Newman quickly added a second long range shot with Burnell following that up with a jump shot.
After a reply by Pathmarajah, Inger, Walker and Veron Eze sank three more long range shots to
open up a 17-6 lead and prompt a Derby time-out with 5’44” on the clock.
Baskets from Walker and Pathmarajah cut the gap to seven before Norman struck from deep once
again. The remainder of the first quarter was relatively even as the Storm took a 33-22 lead into
the first break.
Derby started the second with a reverse lay-up from Washington before Di’Jani Parkinson sank his
second triple of the game to begin a 14-6 run which also included two more triples from Inger and
another from Norman, taking the score to 47-30 just three and a half minutes into the second.
While the next few minutes were keenly contested, Hemel ended the half with back-to-back three-
pointers from Newman and Inger, as they took a 63-42 lead into the break, having converted an
incredible 14 out of 18 long range baskets.
Derby opened the third with a triple from Washington but it was immediately matched by Inger,
before Washington added another. A dunk from May-Thompson briefly had the visiting fans
smiling, but try as they might, the Blazers could make little progress and by the end of the third,
Hemel were 86-60 ahead.
Smith opened the fourth with a pair of free-throws, but triples from Mergim Sokoli and Burnell
quickly stretched the lead to thirty points. It subsequently peaked at 33 points when Sokoli made a
lay-up via a Norman assist. Derby managed to shave nine points off the gap before the final
buzzer, but it counted for nothing as the opportunity to climb the table had slipped away.
Hemel: Inger 29, Norman 15, Walker 14, Newman 12, Sokoli 10, Eze 9, Parkinson 9, Burnell 5, Rai 4,
Chater 0.
Derby: Pathmarajah 26, Smith 13, Washington 13, Walker 11, May-Thompson 10, Marsden 8, Brown 2,
Burr 0, Tallon 0,Norman DNP.
BCB League
Derby Trailblazers 85 (33, 63, 86)
London Cavaliers 81 (22, 42, 60)
Photo credit – Nick Higgins.
After a humiliating defeat away to Hemel Storm the previous night, the Trailblazers had little time to
make any meaningful adjustments, but they battled hard to away with an 85-81 win over London
Cavaliers. Ironically, that would have been enough to clinch the head-to-head over London if the
two clubs had finished level on points, but that was not to be.
Mo Walker led the Blazers with 26 points and 14 rebounds, while Jai Pathmarajah had 22 points
and seven assists. Casey Burr and Raheem May-Thompson both finished with 11 points, while
Charlie Brown had a team-high eleven assists.
The Cavaliers were led by Daniel Braster with 21 points and five rebounds, with Joe Richards
finishing on 13, Marquel Beasley on 12 and Juan Manning on 11.
Beasley opened the scoring for the visitors but two baskets from Walker, a triple from May-
Thompson and a lay-up from Pathmarajah quickly had the Blazers 9-2 ahead. A 12-4 response
had London back in front at 14-13 as they began to dominate.
They were 25-23 ahead at the first break and despite Derby opening the second quarter with a 6-2
run in the form of a triple from Burr and a three-point play from Pathmarajah, the Cavaliers struck
back with ten unanswered points which included a pair of three-pointers from Manning.
Their run was halted by a three-pointer from Elias Norman which was the start of 16-6 run for the
Blazers which included back-to-back baskets for Rob Marsden and an impressive dunk from the
talented Norman.
The Cavaliers called a time-out with 2’49” on the clock and a lay-up from Beasley and a three-
pointer from Richards before Washington dished off a full court pass to May-Thompson who ended
the first half with a dunk to make it 48-47 to London.
A 17-7 start to the third quarter which included a pair three-pointers from Walker and eleven points
from Pathmarajah swung the game firmly in Derby’s favour as they opened up a 64-55 lead. A
basket from Braster was followed by a hook shot from Walker and a fast-break dunk from Burr as
the lead was stretched to eleven points.
It eventually peaked at 76-64 early in the fourth, but the Cavaliers continued to fight hard, clearly
keen to head into the playoffs off the back of a win, but it wasn’t to be as Derby hung on to seal a
morale boosting 86-81 win in the final game of the regular season.
Summing up, Coach Henderson said it was a much-needed victory:
“Going into Sunday’s game we obviously knew we could no longer finish any higher than eighth, so
it was a good opportunity for us to go out there and have a bit of fun whilst still maintaining some
kind of form going into going into our playoff game next weekend.
“It was a great opportunity for me to get our younger guys some extended minutes and I think they
did a great job coming off the bench and impacting the game. It was really nice to see the veterans
of the team really trying to help facilitate and get them involved as much as possible.
“I was pleased for Mo, as he had another fantastic game and came away with another double-
double to cap off a brilliant season. It’s been a real privilege to coach him and to have him on the
team. He’s so calm and composed and he really understands the game and what the team needs
to do, so it’s great to see him dominating both in points and rebounds,” he said.
Derby: Walker 26, Pathmarajah 22, Burr 11, May-Thompson 11, Marsden 7, Norman 7, Washington 2,
Brown 0, Tallon 0, Smith DNP.
London: Braster 21, Richards 13, Beasley 12, Manning 11, Roberts 9, Collins 8, Delsol-Lowry 5,
Ainembabazi 2.
Derby Trailblazers will be away to Reading Rockets in the quarter-finals of the BCB play-offs.
Details of the time and date of the match are still subject to confirmation.
