After Saturday night’s tough home game heroics against Liverpool, The Hoods turned out on Sunday afternoon in front of another sell crowd to see if they could progress to the semi-final of the National Shield for the first time in the club’s history.
Thames Valley Cavaliers, who sit in second place in the Southern Conference came to Nottingham feeling confident that they were going steam roll over Nottingham’s Finest.
The Hoods had other ideas though as tough pressure on defence and accurate execution on offence meant that the game was close in the first quarter with only a few points separating the teams as the lead changed hands throughout. Big shots from England under 18 Luke Mitchell and Dameatric Scott pushed the Hoods ahead to a 26-21 lead at the end of the 1st Quarter.
In the 2nd Quarter, Mitchell continued his fine shooting, ably backed up by captain, Apostolidis, to keep the Cavaliers at a distance at the half 48-39.
Fatigue from Saturday’s game seemed to set in as the third quarter started though as uncharacteristic errors crept into the home team’s game and handed the lead to Thames Valley. If it wasn’t for the hustle of Daniel Wong for the Hoods, scoring 8 points off the bench at a crucial time, the game could have been over.
As it was, it just served to bring the home support back into the game as they roared on their team. Acting as a 6th player, they cheered and chanted, inspiring the Hoods to a 10 point lead at one point. Both teams went on runs, but the Hoods were now in control as they finished the game off and progressed to the National Shield Semi-final for the first time. Their opponents, Liverpool, against whom they had such an epic battle the night before and will e fighting with for the league crown as well this season.
The game ended 89-84. Top Scorers: Scott with 21, Siczek 18, Mitchell 17 and Urbistondo 15.
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