London Patriots Basketball future season preparations went truly underway last night ( Tuesday,16 February 2016). As the hosts for the first time, London Patriots Basketball welcomed strong and well organised Hayes BC team led by Piotr Sykut.
The intial good start and visible lead gained by Patriots was eliminated by Hayes BC due to their organised defence and excellent shooting skills of Piotr Sykut.
London Patriots picked up their pace and kept close thanks to all round good play by Andrzej Zygadlo who ferociously fought for every ball and points.
Janusz Myslowiecki dominated the boards despite Hayes BC attempts to isolate the tallest man on the pitch. Great debut from Cezary Wieczorek – impressive start and solid display.
The difference between the two teams:
Solid back 3 in zonal defense played by Patriots: Lukasz Moryl, Janusz Myslowiecki and Andrzej Zygadlo made the difference at the back. All in all, Patriots registered second win of the year and this will strenghten their confidence. The less favourable news: captain of the team, Przemyslaw Szczecinski’s calf injury suffered in training last week worsened and affected the display of usually energetic and powerfull playmaker. Coach Slav Nowicki decided to rest the Patriots power engine Szczecinski for the final minutes of the game and this clearly played the part in Patriots looking rather shaky at the end of the game.London Patriots Basketball registered second and important win of the year. This was their first historic home game. Coach Slav Nowicki offered some insight after the game: “(…) This was not an easy game for us therefore I would like to thank all the players. In the first half we made some defensive errors, particularly high zonal defence around 3 point line. To add to that, our counter attacking artillery which proved to be our main attacking asset in the first game of the year failed today. In the second half of the game, we played more aggressive defence and attack. Unfortunately 5 min before the final whistle we lost our concentration and the 13 point advantage has been reduced to 6 points. I am very pleased – Patriots deserved to win through their sacrifice and hard work”.
Head Coach assistant Michael Woloszyn (currently injured) offered his views:
“A good win for the team. Everybody played with heart. We have the potential to win by bigger margins and we know what we have to work on to achieve this. Thanks to all who played and contributed!”.
LPB Chair Slav Litwin commented: “What we have is special. Good team spirit and atmosphere is the key. I would like to thank Hayes BC for the great fight and making last night a succesfull collaboration. We are looking forward to further cooperation. In addition, many thanks to families and friends of the players who came to support our team and club. This win was for you!”.
