London Westside 81-60 Ipswich Basketball
NBL Division II
Kensington Leisure Centre, London
Ipswich’s senior men slipped to a disappointing defeat in London on Saturday, with a poor defensive performance paving the way for London Westside to take a comfortable victory.
Ipswich started very slowly, taking over five minutes to register their first points in a frenetic and error-strewn first few minutes in which neither side looked settled.
Westside eventually got the scoreboard moving, and Ipswich joined them on a Ben Winter three-pointer, but by the end of the first period the Suffolk side had registered nine points – a season low for a single quarter.
Both sides managed to pick up the tempo in the second quarter, and Jake Eynon was effective in getting to the free-throw line consistently as Ipswich built some offensive momentum. Coach Adam Robinson’s side made no headway into the deficit, however, and still trailed by ten points at half-time, 43-33, following Steve Hemmings’ three-pointer to close the quarter.
The second half rarely looked like offering much hope of an Ipswich recovery. Westside started strongly in the third quarter, a 7-2 scoring run pushing their lead to 15, and from then on the hosts had an answer for every Ipswich scoring run or string of defensive stops.
The fourth quarter was played out in mostly the same fashion, with Ipswich’s every basket matched by the hosts after another period of drought early in the quarter, where the two sides combined for three points in four minutes. With just over two minutes to go, both coaches emptied their respective benches.
Eynon led all scorers with 20 points, including an impressive 13-14 from the free-throw line. Ethan Price and Luke Mascall-Wright added 13 points apiece.
Jost Peterca led four Westside players in double-figures with 18 points. Donald Morris added 17 and Abiodun Adedo finished with 15 off the bench.
An underwhelming day at the office was offset by results elsewhere, which kept Ipswich within one win of the top of the table after conference leaders Essex Rebels lost at East London All-Stars, meaning both sides are coming off a defeat going into next weekend’s crunch derby fixture at Copleston.
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