Harrogate 2 cruise to a convincing win over Bradford Dragons 2 in the Handicap Cup
Harrogate 2 V’s Bradford Dragons 2
On Sunday 18th October Harrogate 2 faced a division one team in Bradford Dragons 2. Harrogate 2 as a Division two team scored double points and Bradford Dragons as a Division one team scored one extra point per basket.
Harrogate know that they had to try and keep Dragons outside to keep the points advantage and defended well in the first Quarter. While Dragons missed far too many shots Harrogate defence saw them take the first quarter 34 – 9. The second Quarter saw Dragons start to hit more of their shots however Harrogate continued to break well and run a transition offense. Harrogate took the second Quarter 34 – 18. The third quarter started frantically with both teams trading baskets throughout the first few minutes. This continued and the Third Quarter was a high scoring 40 – 23 to Harrogate. In a last ditch attempt to recapture the game Dragons decided to press Harrogate full court. While this generated some turnovers in the defensive half it also allowed some of the Harrogate players the space they wanted to run. The game finished 142 – 81 win for Harrogate 2. This win is even more impressive when you think that without the Handicap Harrogate still won 71 – 52.
Top Scorer was Chris Plowright on 50 (25) followed by Robin Biggs on 40 (20) Phil Harris 20 on (10)
Harrogate 1 V’s Menwith Hill (Friendly)
Due to a last minute cancellation Harrogate 1 were left without a league game, however Menwith Hill were invited to play a friendly. Following Harrogate 1 defeat to Menwith in a pre-season friendly Harrogate wanted to level the playing field. Harrogate started strong and took the first quarter with a well disciplined 11 – 7. The second quarter started with some early fouls by Harrogate and this allowed Menwith to draw back level. Menwith took advantage of this and took the ball hard to the basket drawing anther set of fouls. This put Harrogate into foul trouble early giving away ten free throws and allowing Menwith to take the Quarter 25 -11. The third quarter saw Harrogate retain some of the lost ground with a 17 – 14 win however Menwith were still 46 – 39 up going into the final quarter. Harrogate went into the four with their heads up and a full throttle start saw Harrogate out score Menwith by 17 – 2 through a great pairing of Adam Gardner and Pawel Gachewicz. Although Menwith fought hard in the last few mins the run was too much and Harrogate noched up their first victory over Menwith with a 60 -56 win.
Top scorer was Jan Hericko with 21, Adam Garder and Pawel Gachewicz posted 13 and 16 respectively.
Seconds put in a good team performance but fall short again higher league opposition
Harrogate 2nds V’s Mandela (Knockout Cup)
Harrogate 2 faced a giant killer of a game in the first round of the Knockout Cup, being drawn against the Premiership side Mandela. Harrogate know it was going to be a tough ask but the defeat of Harrogate 1 by Mandela confirmed that it was going to require Harrogate to play at their best to stand a chance. Due to a combination of injuries and last minute problems Harrogate 2 only managed to field a team of six. Mandela in contrast brought a full squad and were clearly here to win as demonstrated with an aggressive first quarter on both the offensive and defensive ends. This saw Mandela jump out to a first quarter lead of 19 – 6. Harrogate 2 fought hard in the second quarter and managed to evenly match Mandela with a 11 – 12 score. Mandela clearly shaken by Harrogate resilience refocused for the third quarter and posted a 20 – 5 score putting the game out of Harrogate’s reach. Despite a valiant final quarter by Harrogate winning 10 – 6 Mandela finished off the game winning 59 -33.
Top Scorer for Harrogate was Robin Biggs with 13, with Ian McAra on 9 and Chris Plowright on 8.
Queensbury Hawks 36 – 90 Harrogate Raiders 2nds
A strong team performance built on tight defence form the start, laid the foundation for an excellent victory for Raiders seconds away at Queensbury. Restricting the Hawks to 3 first quarter baskets, Raiders leapt to a 23-6 first quarter lead which they were never in danger of relinquishing. Raiders extended the lead in each quarter. Points were spread throughout the team, with everyone getting on the score sheet – Chris Plowright lead the scoring with 25 points followed by Ian McAra (25) and Robin Biggs with 16 points on debut
Quarter scores
1 - 6-23
2 - 14-41
3 - 22-59
4 - 36-90
Harrogate 1 V’s Mandela
Sunday 4th October saw Harrogate 1 start in the first round of the H/Cup and face another Premiership side in Mandela. Harrogate started well and jumped to an early lead with controlled offence. In contrast Mandela played a fast ‘run and gun’ offense and pressured the ball well. This lead to Harrogate turning the ball over in the open court on more than one occasion. Harrogate showed some great periods of play but got sucked into Mandela’s game too often. Despite a great final quarter for Harrogate it proved just out of their reach and Mandela stepped ahead to knock Harrogate out of the H/Cup with a win for Mandela.
Harrogate Raiders 2nd 62 – 63 Leeds Demons (OT)
Raiders second team missed excellent opportunities in regular and overtime to slip to a narrow defeat in the first home game of the season. Raiders failed to pick up Demons outside shooters early on and fell behind in the first quarter and continued to trail 32-24 at half time. Raiders game out strongly in the second half and took the lead 37-36 after 7 minutes of the 3rd quarter. The lead changed hands numerous times in the fourth quarter, with Raiders holding a two point lead into the dying seconds, only for the game to be taken into overtime by 2 successful free throws by Demons captain Massem. Raiders held a 5 point lead in overtime and remained 2 point up going into the final 30 seconds, but a late 3 pointer left no time to respond and consigned raiders to a bitterly disappointing defeat.
Chris Plowright led the Raiders scoring with 27 points, followed by Ian McAra with 10
Quarter Scores
1 11-17
2 24-32
3 42-38
4 55-55
OT 62-63
Harrogate 1 V’s Deighton
Sunday 27th September saw Harrogate 1 play their first ever Premiership game. Harrogate got off to a good start and opened the scoring with a long range effort from number 23 Jan Hericko. Deighton then piled on the pressure and took a 14 – 11 lead. The lead exchanged hands a few times however Harrogate edged out the first Quarter with a 28 -22 lead. The second quarter saw Harrogate give away some sloppy fouls and sent Deighton to the line on a number of occasions. Deighton failed to capitalised and missed 5 free throws allowing Harrogate to win the quarter 21 -17. The let off from Deighton caused Harrogate to refocus in the half time break and they came out strong. Harrogate completed dominated the third Quarter going on a 16 point run to take the quarter 28 – 9. The final quarter saw Deighton fight hard and regain some ground but it was too little too late and Harrogate finish the game with a win 95 -68. Top Scorer was Adam Gardner on 31 with Jan Hericko on 26 and Jim Kendall on 14.
Harrogate 1 V’s Armley
Harrogate first game of the season saw them face the Prison side Armley Nix. As this was a normal cup game and Harrogate are two divisions above Armley it should of been a walk in the Park. Armley got out to an aggressive start and some very poor shooting from Harrogate saw Armlet lead at the half by one point. Harrogate clearly angered by the sloppy first half came out for the second half with all guns blazing and quickly establish a comfortable lead to finish the game winning by over twenty points. Sloppy game but the first round was passed.
