4th Quarter Pain for Hoods

Disastrous 4th quarter away from home all but finishes the Hoods title ambitions as they went down 70-50 to London Greenhouse Pioneers.

After finally allowing the coaching staff and their children into the venue, the Hoods knew nothing less than a win would be good enough after dropping a game last weekend, but it was Pioneers who took the first quarter 17-15 with Siczek picking up a technical foul after complaining on being smashed to the floor by a Pioneers player.

This just inspired the Hoods to push on as they opened the quarter with a 6-0 run to lead 17-21. Further good work in what was a very attritional game forced Pioneers into a timeout with 1.44 remaining in the half and Hoods leading 22-28. Another bad no call foul on Siczek forced him out of the game with an ankle injury brining another Technical, this time on Coach Waghorn for questioning the no-call. Pioneers took the opportunity and pulled back to 28-28 at halftime.

A high scoring 3rd quarter as the lead change hands several times before a Danny Wong shot on the buzzer gave the Hoods the slimmest of advantages as they led 45-44 going into the final minutes.

The 4th quarter was disastrous for the Hoods as they appeared to panic. Pioneers were knocking down 3-pointers left, right and centre and the Hoods started to force their game, leaving their offensive sets as they struggled to get their shots to fall. Midway through the quarter, the Hoods had yet to score a basket and Pioneers had run into a 57-45 lead.

Nothing was falling for the Hoods as shot after shot fell for their hosts, even free-throws were rimming out. It wasn’t until 46 seconds left in the game that the Hoods got on the scoreboard with a 3 from Wright. After an incredible shooting performance by Pioneers, they cruised to a 70-50 win.

Top Scorers: Mitchell 14; Urbistondo 8; Wong 7

Elsewhere, the Nottingham Junior Hoods u18 lost 93-72 away to Northants Thunder, the Junior Hoods u16 let a 10 point halftime lead go to lose 65-58 away to Mansfield Giants.

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