October 04: Westside down the Sonics in Swindon

After their opening victory last weekend in EBL Division Three East, Westside travelled to Wiltshire to play the Swindon Sonics in their first away fixture of the season. Just as in their last game, the team from Shepherds Bush got off to a quick start and held a 10 - 2 lead after the first 2 minutes but the home team battled back to tie the score. Playing against a zone defense, Westside had to be patient for their opportunities but they soon began to finding their scoring range as they finished the quarter 21 - 14. This continued in the second quarter as Swindon were content to contest the inside leaving Westside's perimeter shooters with ample time and space to make outside shots as the lead increased to 16 by halftime.

After halftime, the game got decidely more physical as Swindon attempted to cut back the deficit and tempers began to fray as the foul count began to grow. Howvever, it was Westside who maintained their composure with the lead now growing to 25 points and coupled with more poise on offence began to take advantage of the numerous gaps in Swindons defence in the fourth quarter to finish on top. The final score was 96 - 67. The games leading scorers were Anton Fraser with 24 points and Andrew Mayers with 20 points. Coach Frank Lamptey commented " It was a reasonable performance and even though we had worked on zone offence this week, it took a while for the offence to flow. Once again, we rebounded the ball well and made a high percentage of perimeter shots but we still have a lot of work to do before we prove that we can be a consistent contender in this league". The result means that Westside are tied at the top with Solent and Loughborough with a 2 - 0 record.

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