Derby Trailblazers’ hopes of qualifying for the quarter-finals of the BCB Trophy will be determined
this weekend, as the final round of group matches take place. For Derby, it’s a 7:30 pm tip at home
to Newcastle Knights at the University of Derby Sports Centre, but the other crucial game is
Nottingham Hoods trip to Falkirk Fury, which takes place at two o’clock.
That means the Trailblazers will know exactly what’s required before they step onto court. A win for
Falkirk would mean any kind of Derby win over Newcastle would send them through. However, a
win for Nottingham would result in a three-way tie for second place, meaning the Trailblazers
would have to beat the Knights by eleven or more points in order to progress.
Derby will be boosted by the return of Evan Walsh, Kendrick Gilbert and Raheem May-Thompson,
while Casey Burr remains a further week away, so it will be an almost full-strength side which takes to
the floor on Saturday.
Assistant coach Jake Brown believes the team is now starting to gel and can draw positives from
the manner in which they came back from twenty-four points down to beat Falkirk Fury by ten
points last weekend:
“We’re starting to correct some of the problems we had in the first two-and-a-half games and you
could see that in the thirty-four-point turnaround on Saturday. It was an incredible spell to watch
and when you watch the video back, you can see how much we improved.
“We had been coming down the floor, making one or two passes and then shooting the ball,
whereas later in the game, we were making five, six or even seven passes. Everybody was getting
a touch and everyone was scoring, and that makes teams so much harder to guard.
“When that happens, you become a lot less one-dimensional, and the ball almost has an energy of
its own and things just seem to work together for the benefit of the team and that breeds
confidence,” he said.
Newcastle sit second in the Northern Group heading into the game and still have a chance to win
the group, thanks to their 80-70 opening day win over the leaders Yorkshire Dragons, whose group
stage is already complete. They were led by American Luke House, who scored 28 in that game
and has gone to average 24 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.7 assists so far.
AJ McGuiness is averaging 20.7 points, 2.3 rebounds and three assists, while Hafiz Abdul adds 16
points, a team-high 8.3 rebounds and five assists.
Coach Brown is pleased that despite losing their opening two group games, qualification is still in
Derby’s own hands:
“The best part about it is it’s all down to us. If we can take care of business, we can still qualify for
the quarter-finals. Yes, they’ve got some danger men and because they’re a university-based
programme, they have a lot of turnover every year, which presents a lot of unknowns.
“They have a number of guys who can shoot the ball, along with a few veterans who are just well-known
names within the league, so I think they’re always going to be a challenge, and that means we have
to be sure we’re ready and bring our game at full steam,” he said.
The action gets underway at 7:30 pm on Saturday at the University of Derby Sports Centre and
LiveStats should be available via this link: tinyurl.com/2ysx2k7r
