Dartford Sharks I v Bromley Fury I

Finally after a long break the Sharks had a match….and it was a home match, something that has been very rare for the Sharks so far this season. The match started and it was very clear that the Sharks were quite rusty making many mental errors and they seemed to forget that it was a team game. As Kieran sent to the stripe early on and not only was he about to tie his all-time record of trips to the free throw line he also noticed that there was a bit of an equipment malfunction and that the ring was shifted quite badly to the left. Let’s forget that fact that Ben had already missed two free throws and didn’t notice that it was straight….we think his goggles weren’t on straight. 

With the hoop back into its proper position one would have imagined that this would have brought the Sharks to life which is sort of did but it was not enough to prevent Bromley from increasing their lead to 10 points by the end of the second half. The Sharks shooting and decision making was still poor but had been improved and the Sharks were kept in the game from a late charge at the end of the first half led by ever improving big man Andrew Demmon. He was battling for rebounds, playing great positional defence and topped it all off with some nifty finishes at the basket including and I kid you not a put back off the rebound where he jumped, caught it and shot it all before he hit the ground. An impressive feat from the big man considering his lack of co-ordination. It is clear he has been putting in the effort in training and it is paying off. 

The second half saw a much more inspired Sharks team take to the court and applied a lot more pressure on defence which led into a more inspired offence. The ball was starting to move and the ball was starting to fall through the hoop. Bromley weathered the storm and were holding onto a 10 point lead early in the fourth quarter. The Sharks decided that this was enough and battled back to get within 2 points with under a minute left to play. After a timeout the Sharks worked the ball around and found sharp shooter Kieran Long open and he made no mistake and nailed the 3 pointer to put the Sharks up by 1. Bromley quickly called a timeout and drew up a play to try and take back the lead. The Sharks had a few fouls to give and used them to take some more time off of the clock.

Bromley had one more opportunity and a slight defensive lapse allowed Bromley to draw a foul which gave them a chance to take the lead. They missed the first but nailed the second and the game was tied once more. Eugene managed to get a running shot off and the ball went in and out meaning the match was to be decided in overtime. 

The Sharks knew that they had to keep up the defensive pressure and execute on offense and the Sharks took the early lead in overtime and never looked back. 

Not necessarily a pretty game by the Sharks but a good comeback to build on.

Who knows what would have been had Kieran not spotted the ring not being lined up correctly or if the ever resilient Malcolm decided to stay on the ground every time he was knocked over but I think it is safe to say that without the great individual performance from Andrew Demmon the result would not have gone the Sharks way. 

This team has had different people step up in each of its past few games and this has translated into some nice wins for the Sharks. Who is going to step up next against Eltham? Time will tell. 

Final Score : 74 - 68

Sharks Scorers : Maher 17, Demmon 15, Kraft 8,  Braknys  13, Long 7, Schreiber 6, Wellby 5, Fraser 2, Marsh 1

Due to Dartford Sharks regulations the free throw information does not have to be released as there was an alignment issue with the basket at the start of the match.

The only information that can be released on free throw shooting in the match is that it could have been better….a lot better.

November 24th, 2016 by Ben Maher