Skipper Elliot ‘Bosh’ Farrar led from the front as Northamptonshire Titans started 2013 in winning style, seeing off Derby Trailblazers 86-59 in the EBL Under 14 Boys Midlands Conference.
Trailblazers travelled to Weavers on Saturday to take on the Titans, who were missing England centre Hayden Alcindor.
Titans were still hopeful of a victory. although not training together since a week before Christmas could have proved a test.
They needn’t have worried as the first quarter saw them storm to a 25-8 lead over the visitors.
The second quarter saw a far more balanced affair with a stronger looking Trailblazers side on the floor keeping up with Titans and almost trading baskets evenly.
The quarter saw a 19-18 point trade and the teams went into the locker room 44-26.
The third quarter favoured the Titans again with both teams going to the line more often than any of the coaches would have liked.
The third and fourth quarters saw the Titans bench rotate well with a notably stand out performance by Titans rookie Connor Brown.
The game ended 86-59 with top scorers captain Elliot ‘Bosh’ Farrar, point guard Keenan Salmon and shooting guard ‘CJ’ Charteris on 24, 17 and 16 respectively.
EBL Under 13 Boys Midlands South Conference
Hertfordshire Warriors 83 Northamptonshire Titans 31
The last time these two teams met the Titans won in double overtime.
When Titans arrived, they faced a new look Warriors team and right from the off the young Titans struggled against a very good defence.
With the Warriors finding the route to basket with some ease, Titans were trailing 48-11 at half-time.
The Warriors continued in the second half dominating in the paint but with Titans making adjustments offensively resulting in a much needed improvement.
The top scorers for Titans were Tyler Mutemasango with 15 and Elijah McKiernan with 7.
EBL Under 15 Boys Midlands Conference
Northamptonshire Titans 76 Coventry Trojans 59
This was the second encounter for these two teams, with Trojans wining by five points at their home court in the first game of the season in 2012.
The Trojans got off to a quick start scoring the first four points before Titans levelled the scores, from that point the Titans went on a nine-point run before Trojans could respond, ending the first quarter 23-13.
The second quarter was much the same with Titans edging forward with six players scoring 17 points and Trojans five players scoring 12.
Third quarter saw Trojans start with a frenzy of seven points before Titans settled and took back control while the Trojans continued to score the Titans found there rhythm hit back with eight unanswered points straight.
Trojans’ G Pool scored 12 out of the 15 points in this quarter with Titans MuzzyTijani scoring eight and Theo Biggs scouring a three to bring Titans to 19.
Trojans fought back hard in the final quarter, however Titans had been able to use their bench in depth to keep the pressure and with the points damage scored in the first quarter they were unable to dent the strength and ability of the Titans U15s.
Top scorers were: Muzzy Tijani with 15, Lewis Kain with 12 and James Andrews with 11.
EBL Under 16 Boys Northern Premiere
Northamptonshire Titans 62 Sheffield Sharks 42
Titans played a fast and furious home game against the Sharks on Sunday at Northampton Academy.
Neither team showed any signs of New Year blues, but Titans improved on their first game win in September against the Sharks by a further six points, bringing the closing score to Titans 62 to Sharks 42.
EBL VCARS.co.uk Division Three Men South
Northamptonshire Titans 89 Hackney White Heat 95
Titans men’s squad put themselves into a great position to take their first win of the season on Sunday at Weavers in Wellingborough before losing out in the final few minutes to the more experienced Londoners.
Nine first-quarter points from Benjy Henry led the home side to a 23-15 advantage, with Titans showing more evidence of the progress they are making, and no signs of post-Christmas rust.
They continued to stay in control throughout the second period, leading by as many as 14 before an 8-2 burst from the visitors closed the gap to 48-40 at the break.
Titans opened the third period in the same positive fashion, nudging their lead back to 11 before a 14-2 run from the Heat pushed their noses in front at 60-59 with three minutes left.
It was to the Northamptonshire sides credit that they did not fold at this point, which may have happened earlier in the season when they were a much more fragile outfit, but they halted the momentum and were unlucky to go into the final period down just two points at 71-69.
Henry led the way into the final period as Titans battled back to tie the scores at 76-76 when they suffered a freak injury to Nathan Maxwell who had to leave the game with an injured shoulder.
Hackney then put in a five-point run, and that combined with some foul trouble with the Titans starters allowed the away side to use their experience to close the game out to restore themselves to third place in the table after the 95-89 victory.
Henry led all scorers with 27 points, Danny Barrett had another solid game with 17 points and Abraham Twumasi added 16 in support in a fine team performance.
EBL VCARS.co.uk Division Two Women SW Midlands
Nottingham Wildcats II 49 Northamptonshire Titans 71
This was the first time these two teams have met with both sitting mid table just outside the play-off spots there was a lot to play for.
It was Nauel Cali that got the Titans going offensively knocking down Titans first eight points while the Wildcats struggled inside, they maintained an up tempo game which allowed them to stay in touching distance of the Titans with a 22-26 to the visitors.
The third saw Wildcats close the gap through turnovers made by the Titans resulting in just a one point lead going into the fourth.
The fourth quarter belonged to the Titans as they managed to find their ‘mojo’ and keeping the home side to just nine points whilst pouring in 28 points to take the victory.
Top scorers were Cali 25, Angeline Browne 17 and Izzy Johns 12
WEEKEND FIXTURES
Saturday 12th January
11:30: Titans Under 13 Boys away vs. Bucks Hornets
14:00: Titans Under 15 Boys away vs YH Leicester Dynamite
15:30: Titans Under 14 Boys away vs Milton Keynes Lions
17:30: Titans Men’s team away vs Ipswich Tomcats
Sunday 13th January
15:00: Titans Women’s team away vs Loughborough Students Riders II
16:00: Titans Under 16 Boys away vs. Stockport Spartans
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