Winning start for Titans
Thursday, 23 October 2008
SJS Titans got the new season under way on Saturday evening, when Strabane were the visitors to the Greenvale leisure centre.
Titan's preparation for their opening game had been interrupted when Thursday night's training had to be cancelled and on top of that M. Kelly, for the second season running, will miss the opening games when he aggravated an ankle injury.
The game had been scheduled for a 6.00pm tip-off but had to be put back to 6.20pm and the delay seemed to unsettle Titans more than Strabane as the home side were slow to start and fell behind, early on.
Titans play seemed disjointed as they struggled to stop Strabane from scoring and at the other end they couldn't penetrate the visitor's zone defence.
As the first period went on, poise, confidence and discipline seemed to disappear as shots were missed, the ball was turned over and refereeing decisions were hotly disputed.
Strabane were in control and put twenty-one first quarter points on the scoreboard to Titan's ten points and Titans were glad to hear the buzzer to end the quarter.
Titans used the break to regroup and looked a completely different side in the second quarter as they matched Strabane point for point. The quarter was vigorously contested as Titans sought to claw back the deficit and Strabane battled to maintain control.
Titans were starting go get into their stride and had revived the scoring touch, which had deserted them in the first quarter, but no matter how much they tried to close the gap Strabane always came up with the shots to cancel out any Titans resurgence.
The half time interval came and even with their good showing in the second quarter Titans had only managed to narrow the margin to nine points and they trailed Strabane 32pts - 41pts.
Titans had played a slow tempo game up to now and when they started the third quarter it was clear they had stepped up the work rate and they began to run a transition offence, breaking quickly out of defence, they moved the ball down court for a score before Strabane could get back to set up in defence. This running style of offence led to a string of easy scores and now it was Strabane who were on the rack as Titans started to eat into their lead.
Strabane's inside game fell apart and they were relying mainly on long range outside shots to try to bolster their lead and although the Strabane guards did manage to hit a few, Titans scoring rate had increased and at the end of the third quarter the Strabane lead was just two points, Titans 53pts - Strabane 55 pts.
Having worked so hard, to turn the game around, Titans were determined not to let it slip away from them again and in the opening seconds of the final quarter they levelled the scores before edging in front. The game swung from end to end as both teams put in one last concerted effort to gain the upper hand and claim victory.
Titans managed to stay in front by the odd point for most of the quarter before Strabane reclaimed the lead with a three-point effort.
Titans young side didn't let this unsettle them and responded in the best possible way by, quickly cancelling out the Strabane lead and then going on to open up their biggest lead of the game, as they pushed ahead 70pts - 63pts. A Strabane three-pointer narrowed the gap again, as the game entered the last three minutes it could have gone either way.
Titans slowed down the play taking time to run their offence, keeping possession and running seconds off the clock. Strabane had to come out of their zone defence to chase the ball, as the clock was running down and when they did Titans capitalised by nipping in for a late score.
Strabane hit back again, this time with a quick two points and a free throw and it looked as though they were going to steal it but two free-throws in the dying seconds edged Titans in front by four points which meant that Strabane needed two scores to either tie or win the game but time ran out on the visitors and Titans held on to record the victory, Titans 74pts - Strabane 69pts.
It is always nice to get the season off to a winning start but Titans should be pleased with this result as they showed a lot of character recovering from a terrible start to win right at the end.
Magherafelt Titans: C. McCoy 23pts; M. McHugh 1pt; C. Fullerton; F. Hegarty 4pts; P.Martin 12pts; E. Young 4pts; C. Young 8pts; D.Nugent; S. McNally; A.Hamilton 19pts; C. Lennon 3pts.
