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jessica-benson
10th February 2013

Manchester left ‘gutted’ by cup defeat

University of Manchester 59-69 University of Chester
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TLDR

Manchester Men’s Basketball are ‘gutted’ having suffered their first cup loss of the season to Chester last night. Neither the coaches nor the players denied that it was going to be a tough game pre-match, but team talks revealed quiet confidence and steely determination from both sides. Manchester’s coach claimed he was never nervous despite Chester having held them to their lowest point score when they last played, and Chester’s J. Howes (no. 9) said that, although it was tough playing a team you’ve played so recently, “we should take them” – and sadly, that’s exactly what happened.

The game was an intense one, with on and off pitch drama coming to a climax in the final quarter. Chester came out aggressively with some early fouls but equally two early scores, putting Manchester on their toes right away. They quickly stepped up their game; some hot rebound snatches from T.Marks and an impressive 7th point from S. Berbet. Chester’s line up seemed less flexible, they were running the same players continuously, very hard- but they definitely made up for that in gel and flow. Star player N.Gillard, BBL player for Cheshire and my ‘one to watch’, put a spanner in the works for Manchester too, scoring some beautiful 3-pointers where our boys were lacking.

A disappointing first quarter soon gave way to a faster, harder second one catapulting Manchester into the lead- but only just. Just as Chester equalized the tension mounted on the sideline with Chester’s coach and players contesting that B. Thomas had committed five fouls. Manchester seemed frustrated with the time wasting as Chester’s attitude got the better of them, arguing with the referee and the desk despite having no one doing stats to back them up. The end of the second quarter was swamped in controversy with an angry Chester and a tense 30- 31 lead against our boys- looking to smash both coaches’ predictions of neither team breaking the thirty boundary.

The first point in the third quarter was smashed in by another ‘one to watch’ C.Serban and Manchester managed to show their aggression and dominate the majority of the quarter. But fate had decided the game was to be a tense one, much to the dismay of the one-man desk, and there was rising frustration as technical difficulties with the score board brought the game to a halt several times.

The game intensified tenfold in the final quarter, with every player trying his guts out and coaches sweating on the sideline. A whole new level of basketball entered the building. The Manchester team became increasingly frustrated with Chester’s smashing scores and fearless runs, though they put up a fierce defense and ran their hardest- the team just seemed lacking that tight communication that fuelled Chester’s fire power.

After a few outstanding three-pointers there was an un-sportsman-like call made by the referee against Chester’s E. Raka for aggressively pushing a player in the chest. He then became violent and was asked to leave the building for the safety of others; the smashed drinks machine he left in his wake, much to the disgust of the other players, made this seem like an all round good decision. The drama off pitch only spurred the boys to run harder and faster, and though Manchester kept fighting till the very last it wasn’t enough to claw back from their ten-point loss. Manchester 59 to Chester 69.

After an intense game Chester’s N. Gillard said that he was ‘chuffed’ and Manchester had made them ‘play out of their skins to win’- it sure looked like it. J. Lake, Manchester’s number 5, admitted they were gutted; they could have played better but that Chester just ‘shot harder’.  A sickening loss to end their 9 game winning streak but Manchester don’t seem too despondent, ‘we want to be undefeated in the league’, Lake told me positively.

They travel to Chester next weekend hot on the heels of this weeks loss so there will certainly be added pressure and extra tension when these rivals clash again- hopefully they can maintain that fourth quarter intensity and bring back their winning streak in style.


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