We've made a solid start to our Consolation Cup wit a 21-point win over Croatia, 117-96.
After some initial foul trouble, particularly to the very lively John Duffield in the early stages, we got a hold of them in the second and third to have the game stitched up and the fourth quarter mostly what you would call junk time. Not a bad effort given two of our best bigs were out of action through injury or game shape.
Our ball movement was a feature and reflects the benefits of trying to field a solid passing team. Aaron Grunter led the way early to finish with an impressive 24 points, 4 boards and two assists while team captain Hongjing had 23 points, two boards and 4 assists off the bench.
Starting guards Houghton and Duffield each had 7 assists on the night, which was a great sign, while Houghton also knocked down 19 points.
Begum was also lively off the bench with 18 points and 5 boards, showing the benefits of eating less pies and running more laps, while Biglands, Bill and Cull kept the rebound count in our favour.
On paper Croatia is probably the toughest of our seeding games so hopefully this is the start of a run that gets us to the knock out stages again. Game shape will be important so hopefully our managers find a way to keep their weekly minutes around that 65-mark and preferably not higher than 75 if it can be avoided. It'd be great to try and push deep into the knock out stages this season if we can and challenge for a Home Asian Cup next season.
Let's go team!
Also, I apologise for the lack of chat on here over the last month, it's been a rough patch in my home life following a death in the family and then surgery for myself, so I've just been keeping the team running and letting some of the social stuff slide. But I'm back at the keyboard (one-handed) and looking to keep this community growing!