The first game saw Melton travel to Coventry to face a
strong side that featured 6'10" Centre, Paul Adams who was previously missing
from their first encounter whilst Melton were without their young centre, Fraser
Dunlop. The game got off to a woeful start to Melton, who seemed to be
suffering from the Easter break, only scoring 5 baskets from the open court,
and scoring only 7 for 22 from the free throw line. Thankfully, Melton's
defence held strong and were only down by 6 after a poor offensive first half
performance.
Half time was a welcome break to re-ground and re-focus,
and it took 4 minutes into the third before Kings finally sorted their offensive problems out,
going on a 13-0 run, with Neal Addison scoring 5 and later scoring again to
take the lead in the third. A small lapse saw Kings loose the lead as they
entered the 4th quarter, but confidence was starting to grow.
The 4th quarter saw Andy and James Chester work tirelessly
on the offensive end to make sure Kings had a look at snatching the lead at the
end of the game, scoring 15 points between them to keep Kings in contention as
Coventry started to hit 3 pointers and looked in control of the game. With just
2 minutes left, both Kings and Coventry traded baskets, before Kings tied the
lead through Jevan Atkins with under a minute to go. Coventry took the lead in
the final minute at the free throw line, but a fast break score by James
Chester saw the Kings take the lead with the final score of the game, and good
defensive play saw them hold on to a crucial win.
Kings - 53 Coventry 52
The second game was won in a more convincing fashion. Before
the game, Kings were made aware of Rawlins star player, Daniel Routhledge, and true to forms he opened up with back to back three point baskets forcing
Kings knuckle down and play free flowing team basketball going on a 13-1 run to
open up a 10 point lead, lead by superb passing from Jevan Atkins and excellent
rebounding by all the Kings "big men".
With the second quarter, Kings started to play like they had
won the game already, playing at a slower pace that saw few offensive opportunities,
scoring just 8 points, with 6 from Phil Ariss.The start of the third quarter saw Kings start back to playing affective team basketball, with veteran players Andy Chester and Neil Atkins scoring to go on an early 6-0 run, before Rawlins started to settle as both teams traded baskets, by which point the lead had swelled up to 20 points as Kings looked in control and again, started to relax.
The final quarter saw Kings ease off the pace, but the win was never in doubt after a quick 5 point flurry from Ariss, followed by another 5 point flurry by Jevan Atkins, who controlled the game superbly from start to finish as Kings ran out comfortable winners, with all Kings players getting on the score board.
Kings 59 - Rawlins 43