GUERNSEY finished their debut national basketball league season on a high with an empathic 23-point win over Bath & Trowbridge Titans on Sunday.
The Greens had something of a baptism of fire in their inaugural year in Division Four South West, having lost 10 matches and winning only four prior to the weekend.
They had suffered a 15-point defeat at the hands of Titans in November.
The Sarnians also went into their match on their home court at Hamble Community College having lost the previous day to a strong Taunton Tigers II outfit.
But they turned on the style to beat Titans, who were one place above them in the table in fifth place, 80-57.
It was their best performance of the campaign.
‘It was a great way to finish the season,’ said Guernsey’s player-coach Jeff Stuart (pictured) the day after.
‘There were lots of positives from that point of view.
‘Yesterday indicated how far we’ve come from eight months ago.
‘The result and how empathically we won was a testament to the approach of every single member of our team.’
Guernsey found themselves three points down at half-time before claiming the third quarter 32-11, which set up the victory.
Stuart and fellow big man Michael Beausire along with New Zealander James Tracey all top scored for the islanders with 14 points.
The win was the best moment of the season for Stuart.
‘It was the highlight because it was a team performance and it was an example of us putting into practice everything that we said we were going to do,’ he said.
Stuart also took some positives from their 77-66 defeat by Taunton at Somerset College on Saturday.
‘We played well in both games,’ he said.
‘We let ourselves have a bad start in the first game and we were 28 points down before we started working together as a team and focussing on defence.
‘The hard work we finished with in that game carried on into the next game and that’s the reason why we did so well.’
Young Scott Rowe top scored for the visitors with 15 points followed by guard Andy Stephens with 12.
Guernsey ended the season in sixth spot.
Team Solent finished top, followed by Bognor Pirates and University of Chichester Thunder in third.
The island side’s next outing is the inter-insular in Jersey on Saturday 17 April.
Stuart believes their performances over the weekend put them in good stead for the biggest game in the calendar.
‘It was a real positive end to the season for us and a good indication of where we are in terms of our progress and it was a positive to start our six-week preparation for the inter-insular,’ he said.England Basketball Division Four South-West: Stuart delighted with team performance
Article posted on 9th March, 2010 - 2.29pm
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