Nick Wright previews this weekend's clash between York City Knights and Hull FC
Alex Reid looks at whether the once ever-present appearance of English clubs in the later stages of the Champions League is set to become a thing of the past
Craig Dobson looks at QPR's decision to sack Neil Warnock and replace him with Mark Hughes
James Tompkinson reviews an excellent pre-season victory for the York City Knights against Yorkshire rivals Leeds Rhinos
Despite getting off to a shakey start and going behind in the first quarter, York soon pulled together and bounced back into the lead. Solid defending frustrated the opposition no end, while consistent scoring in attack put the match beyond doubt and sent York through to the second round of the cup.
A quick start pushed the first team into a 7 – 2 lead against Leeds, with President Marcus Johansson and first year Samuel Bentley both sinking shots from beyond the three point line. Despite this early lead York were unable to pull away from the opposing team, their lead dropping to 15 – 12 with 3:56 left in the first quarter. And soon. through a combination of missed three point shots by York and efficient fast breaks from the opposition, Leeds overtook York 19 – 17 with only 1:50 left in the quarter, which ended 21 – 19 in Leeds favour.
The beginnings of a potential upset were however averted with both Johansson’s and Bentley’s consistent scoring, hitting three more three’s between them, and a more concerted effort across the team helped York regain the lead early in the second period and hold it for the rest of the quarter, finishing the half 48 – 30 up.
This lead did not just come from offensive play; York outscored Leeds 27 – 11 in the second quarter through their strong defence. In the second half there were a staggering 20 steals made by York, including seven from Johansson and four from Ben Barrett, while David Nalton showed his talent at rebounding by grabbing 3 defensive and 3 offensive boards.
Thanks to their overall zone defence they managed to force the high turnover rate and in the second quarter shut out Leeds Trinity’s shooting guard, who until then had racked up 13 out of the total 19 points scored by the opposing team.
With the start of the second half, York maintained their lead, with their defence working so well they shut out Leeds completely for a full five minutes, whilst increasing their lead to 60 -30, and the quarter eventually finished 71 – 39 in York’s favour. Leeds did rally in the final period, scoring another 21 points, but with Johansson and Bentley still racking up the points for York, the game was out of reach for Trinity.
Their frustration at this ultimately showed, as they exceeded the team foul limit in both the third and the fourth quarter, the fouls occurring so often that one crowdmember accused Leeds of playing rugby rather than basketball. Inevitably, one of their players, their starting point guard was forcibly benched after fouling himself out halfway through the fourth.
By the end of the game, York had eased themselves to an impressive 87 – 60 victory over Leeds. Johansson scored a total of 21 points and took 8 steals, whilst an impressive performance by Bentley saw him grab 20 points, five steals and three assists. Nalton took home 10 rebounds and Barrett ended the game with five steals and four rebounds.
Last week’s star Edward de Moraville did not have the same presence as he did against Newcastle, but as captain Dane Vishnubala put it, “It was a good game for everybody, with good defence and a lot of turnovers from pressuring the ball”. Johansson and Bentley were the two stand-out players of the day who gave “notable performances” according to Vishnubala, but it was a cross team effort on defence which enabled such a conclusive victory, their second on the trot and a very solid start to the season.
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