|
 |
Oct 05: Westside need OT to see off Brixton in Shield On Saturday, Westside entertained Brixton Topcats in the National Shield at the Kensington Leisure Centre. The game started well for the home team with a 7 - 2 burst but Brixton came back into it by pounding the ball inside and using their height advantage as the first quarter finished 15 all. Westside regrouped and once again took a 6 point lead with 2 minutes remaining in the half but then a 9 - 0 run by Brixton left the visitors 3 up at the break. At halftime, Coach Lamptey implored his team to settle down and make Brixton play defence for longer and good things would happen. Those words proved prophetic as Westside outscored the Topcats 30 - 17 in the quarter to take a 10 point lead in to the final quarter behind Ola Odigans 15 third quarter points. At the start of the fourth, Brixton battled back but Westside held strong and still had a 10 point lead with 3 minutes to go. Never a team to give up, Brixton hit a three to cut it to 7 and then a dubious call by the officials gave them the ball back and they hit another three. With momentum shifting, Westside failed to score and Brixton hit another three with 40 seconds remaining to trail by 1. On the next possession, an offensive foul was charged to Westside and Brixton hit one of 2 foul shots to tie the game. On the next possession, Westside were fouled with 6 seconds remaining but failed to score on both and a despearation heave at the buzzer meant that this would be an overtime game. As overtime started, Brixton took their first lead since the third quarter but this simply stunned Westside into action as their defence held firm and they scored 10 consecutive points to break the game open and record their first National Shield victory 88 - 84. The leading scorers for Westside were Ola Odigan with 27 points and Daniel Worku with 21 points. Westside Coach Frank Lamptey commented "This was a frantic game for us but we sometimes we need this type of game to test our character. To their credit, Brixton don't quit and we need to learn to keep the intensity when we have the lead"
|
 |
