TEESSIDE TAKE FOURTH WITH ARROWS WIN

By Jordan Clarke

Teesside secured a critical victory over fellow playoff chasers Derbyshire Arrows with a 16pt win that seals fourth place in NBL2 and the final playoff spot.

Lions started the game on the front foot and zoomed into a quick lead with the help of six early points from Faaris Mughal.

Derbyshire’s star man, Hamza Ibrahim, also got off to a hot start to keep Derbyshire close in the first quarter. He had an early seven points but it the Lions who held a a 22-17 advantage at the end of the first period, 22-17.

Noah Saa started the second quarter off with two three pointers to mark his first points of the encounter which further increased the Lions momentum.

Saa had eight points alone in the second quarter and with the help of five points from Emmanuel Kabengele and resilient defending from the Lions, allowing the visitors just 15 points in the quarter, Teesside took a 12-point advantage into the halftime break, 45-33.

The Arrows were fired up for the third quarter and produced their best period to close the gap Teesside had opened. Teesside were struggling to find the target with two of their most productive players in Horvat and Mughal held to just 4pts each.

Prolific scoring from a number of Derbyshire players partnered with tough defending led to the Lions once double-digit advantage being trimmed to only one point with 10 minutes remaining. The visitors outscored the hosts 11-22 to end the third 56-55.

The poor third would prove to be an anomaly in the game for Lions, as they returned to normal service in the final period and gathered more momentum as the game drew to a close.

Early free throws from Luke Mitchell and Jamie Glen were the catalyst to the Lions catching fire in the final quarter. Glen himself put up 10 points in the period along with some fantastic defending.

Teesside weren’t allowing Derbyshire to get the shots they wanted, which led to them only scoring nine points in the fourth quarter, in comparison to Teesside who became unstoppable, scoring 24 points to confirm a crucial 80-64 win in the penultimate game of the season.

Faaris Mughal led the Lions in scoring with 16 points, closely followed by Tom Horvat with 14 and Emmanuel Kabengele with 13, in what was a brilliant team performance against a gritty and talented side.

The Game MVP was awarded to Jamie Glen.

This win confirmed Teesside’s place in the playoffs as they cemented fourth place in their first season of NBL2. The opposition is still to be confirmed but will be against either Solent Kestrels or record breaking Milton Keynes Breakers. Both will be formidable opponents and a chance for Teesside to test where they are against the best in the South. This playoff game is likely to take place on Saturday 13th April.

Prior to this, Teesside entertain second placed St Helens at Eston Arena this Sunday for their final league game of the season. Tip is 2.30pm and tickets are available at TeessideLions.com