Courtney Ricketts was at the David Wallace Sports Hall on Wednesday 20 November to watch the men’s 3rds basketball team face Lincoln that saw the men in purple prevail 68-43.
The match was delayed by 25 minutes or so due to the late arrival of the referees, but it did not seem to be at any disadvantage to our Loughborough lads.
Instead, they took the time to get some extra practice in whilst performing a spectacle for the crowd by creating a very street style game with music blaring, whilst they effortlessly pulled off a number of trick shots, including three-pointers and slam dunks.
Unlike the referee, the match got off to a very fast start. Within the first minute and a half, the game had featured much energy. Loughborough were the first to put their mark on the scoreboard with a very quick two-pointer but Lincoln were fast to respond and all of a sudden it was all level.
Both teams continued to score points against one another, leaving very little difference when the first timeout was called with the score being 8-9 to Lincoln.
Whilst both teams received team talks, the only words that could be heard in the crowd were “We want Fagan!” The prayers of the supporters were soon answered as Fagan soon entered the court, adding some additional energy to the team, along with scoring a few baskets, helping the team apply pressure on the opposition.
At the end of the second quarter, a supporter attempted to score a number of three-pointers, which resulted in one of the referees deciding to make a mockery of him in retaliation to the fans abusive behaviour during game play. “I just don’t understand how you can’t get one in!” has to be the quote of the match.
The third quarter saw Loughborough start to put some daylight between themselves and Lincoln. The team started scoring basket after basket whilst keeping check of Lincoln’s pint-sized star player.
Like Persil, he was strong and mighty and although the team couldn’t stop him every time, their productivity definitely helped reduce his potential point threats. When the whistle blew to signal the end of the third quarter, the score stood at 47-33 to Loughborough.
Come the final quarter, our lads started to go into a class of their own. Messin scored a massive three-pointer and Reward’s energy equalled the electricity of his luminous yellow sock and shoe combination. The team’s confidence was growing every second and our guys were scoring baskets as easy as you or I would drop an apple into a trolley on a weekly shop.
There was a degree of sloppiness in this period where easy baskets were missed and miss timed tackles saw free throws given to Lincoln but with the team racking up the points, it was more like they were giving Lincoln a chance to gain possession and allow them to gain a few easy points so they would leave less embarrassed more than anything.
The final claxon blew with the score at 68-43 to Loughborough. What had seemed to look like a tight match transformed into a comfortable win for the hosts. The team played well as a unit and were rewarded for it. I’m sure the guys will use this momentum to propel them forward into their upcoming matches and hopefully see many more wins. As for now Loughborough are still walking on water…
Courtney Ricketts
