Tigers 22 - Erks 107

Thursday 19th March, 2009 @Tigers

Erks maintainted their playoff push with back to back wins this week. The first game against a depleted Tigers side gave Lee Atkinson the opportunity to confirm that he is not just an 80% unopposed mid-range jump shooter when partnering Dave Churches in 21's, and gave everybody else the opportunity to jack up some threes, run up and down a bit and generally get a sweat on in an Eastbury gym that was heated to approximately 40c.

Some took to the challenge with a greater degree of hunger than others and Robin French was denied the opportunity to record his career high after being rested in the 4th quarter by a compassionate coach Churches, who was concerned that after a recent stint in hospital French wouldn't have enough in the tank for the next night's game if he kept firing away. There was also a concern that there weren't enough balls on the court to keep French, Martin and Lee happy.

In other highlights, 5 out of the 6 Erks players hit a trey, the exception being Lee Atkinson, who preferred to keep making 2's rather than move the extra foot away from the basket that turns him from an 80% shooter into a 10% shooter.

Former league secretary Brian Pittman made the first Tigers basket with the final shot of the first quarter, to leave the hosts 2-31 behind, but the Tigers racked up 10 points in the final 4 minutes after Greenidge found his range from the corners, mostly in Jonny Lee's face.

Scorers:

Atkinson 30, Overare 27, French 25, Churches 13, Lee 7, Williams 5

Posted: March 24th 2009

Brentwood Fire 69 Erks 86

Sunday 15th March, 2009 @Fire

Following the disappointment of Gintaras' bionic man's heriocs on Friday night, Erks bounced straight back against league new comers Brentwood Fire on Sunday.

Ex Erk and ball thief Gareth Sims couldn't quite match his 0 for 10 shooting exhibition from the reverse fixture but managed to rack up 4 needless fouls in succession resulting in a significant part of the game being spent on the bench. Had he signed for Erks instead of trying to steal the balls, he would have spent almost the entire season on the bench.

The home side were straight out of the blocks and shaded the first quarter 17 - 16. However, Erks plugged away taking the next 3 quarters to run out comfortable winners.

Pete once again topped the scoring and has now entered the EMBL top scorers table (at position 10) with Mark nervously looking over his shoulder from position 5. The only other Erks player in the top scorers table is Steve Ojumgemi which is a real coincidence as he actually plays for Hainult...

Erks scorers:

Declan 1; Mark Denchfield 15; Lee Atkinson 4; Keith Pringle 11; Pete Prazych 34, Jonny Lee 3; Garbage Time Dave Churches 18

Posted: March 16th 2009

Erks 84 Gintaras 85

Gintaras have the EMBL title in their grasp as they relied on a miracle to beat the Erks on Friday.

Gintaras won the first 2 quarters opening up a 50 - 37 half time lead. They then further pulled away at the start of the third quarter opening up a 21 point lead. However, a 22 - 5 run from the Erks pulled things back with Gintaras holding a 5 point advantage going into the final quarter where the real drama unfolded.

Baskets were traded throughout the quarter and going into the final minute, baskets from Keith Pringle and Mark Denchfield had pulled the deficit to 1 with Gintaras leading 80 - 79. Gintaras' Darius hit an off the dribble shot with lead to 82 - 79 and when Peter Piozych replied, Erks had cut the lead again to 1. Gintaras missed with 24 seconds to go and a time out gave Erks the opportunity to take the final shot. Keith Pringle kept the ball until the final second where he found Mark Denchfield who hit a 3 to take the lead 84 - 82.

Game over? 0.83 seconds remaining - it must be!! Gintaras time out - ball now being inbound from half way line and the inbound pass found Daruis, facing his own basket and, in 0.83 of a second, he manged to catch the ball facing the wrong way, turn around in the mid air and get a shot off. To Erks dismay, it went in off the backboard and the basket was signalled good.

A miracle had happened for all to see. The bionic man, last seen in 1978 in the guise of Steve Austin as Lee Majors, had reappeared. Darius of Gintaras could now do the impossible - all in 0.83 of a second. It is now believed that Darius is going to try a full court coast to coast break in 1.04678927864 seconds for his next trick.

Erks scorers: Declan 4; Mark Denchfield 21; Jonny Lee 1; Keith Pringle 16; Shaq 1; Lee Atkinson; Garbage Time Dave Churches 21; Piotr Prazych 19

Posted: March 15th 2009

Erks 79 Hainault 91

Friday 27th February 2009

Erks gave up their unbeaten home record, and any realistic chance of regaining their EMBL crown as Hainault avenged their earlier defeat to Erks in the season. Stars deserved victory as they worked harder, played smarter and took advantage of sloppy Erks defence and turnovers.

Peter Prazych led all scorers whilst hitting 34 of Erks points but more balanced scoring from Hainault with 4 players registering over 15 points meant the visitors were scoring from various angles whilst Erks normal points distribution was way off mark.

Erks scorers:

Mark Denchfield 10; Martin Overare 6; Jonny Lee 7; Keith Pringle 15; Shaq 2; Peter Prazych 34; Garbage Time Dave Churches 5

Hainault:

Hill 20; Alaxandro 18; Ogunjimi 16; Edwards 16

The league title looks as though it is between Gintaras & Hainault with 1 & 2 losses respectively; although Gintaras have a 21 point head to head on Hainault with the return game still to be played. Looks as though Hainault will be looking to at least 1 other club to beat Gintaras in their quest to retain their title.

Posted: March 3rd 2009

Erks 99 Brentwood Fire 83

Friday 20th February 2009

Erks continued their unbeaten EMBL home record with a win over league newcomers Brentwood Fire.

Although the score line flattered the visitors, it could have been a different story if ex Erk and ball thief Gareth Simms had hit all of his 10 three point attempts as Brentwood would have won by 14. Instead he hit none.

Erks hit 14 "treys" of their own. Although Mark Denchfield hit at least 8 of these, he was wearing "5" and Pete was wearing "15" so scorekeeper Babs Dandy (aka Tommy) got continuosly confused - so 10 of the Erks 14 treys were shared (according to the score sheet) between Mark & Pete. Mark is considering an official appeal as this has had serious implications for his bid to top the EMBL scorers for the season.

Garbage Time Dave Churches rolled back the years by actually playing inside for 80% of his minutes and hit 20 points and went to the free throw line more times in 1 game (ie twice) than he has done in the last 15 games. His lack of practice at the free throw line was there for all to see as he missed all his attempts. Still - at least his nightmare appearance at Southend Saints recently was forgotten for at least an hour and a half.

All 9 players registered on the score sheet and, if Lee Atkinson had arrived at least 2 hours earlier, it could have been 10 - but a crash on the A12 meant his recent run of form of  6 points per game came to a halt.

Robin French brought his girlfriend along in an attempt to show off. However, following a "shoot every time you get the ball policy" (including a shot attempt from behind the back board) meant his minutes were spent mainly on the bench. As a result of his bench action, his post match action with his new bird was also left hanging in the balance.

Erks scorers:

Declan 4; Mark Denchfield 27; Shaq Sanghera 2; Robin French 3; Martin Overare 7; Keith Pringle 12; Jonny Lee 2; Garbage Time Dave Churches 20; Piotr Prazych 23.

Posted: February 25th 2009

Lakers 76 Erks 95

Erks continued their return to winning ways in the Essex Met League with a 95 – 76 win away to Lakers. Although appearing to be a convincing win, the Erks did their best to make the game as close and competitive as possible, much to the uncontained joy of Coach McCusker.

Both teams started well, trading inside moves, as well as long threes (although how you have 'long threes' on a court marginally bigger than a badminton court I'm not sure). Lakers having the edge after the first quarter (18 – 17).

The Erks crept ahead in the second quarter with Peter Prazych turning it on from both outside and down in the low post to hit half of the Erks 28 points for the quarter. With Mark Denchfield adding a couple more trademark threes, the Erks finished the half with a 7 point lead (45 – 38).

Somehow the Erks managed to pull further away in the third quarter, despite playing some kamikaze defence. With the Lakers big men continuing to dominate the Erks boards, Coach McCusker finally managed to get through to the Erks players that he’d be a 'teensy bit miffed' (to paraphrase him) if they now threw the game away.  Cue Jonny Lee to remember what he’s there for and after a few big defensive rebounds and with Denchfield finishing the quarter with two more threes, the Erks stretched their lead to 10 (72 – 62).

A strong final quarter from the Erks, who were now in control at both ends saw them finish with a 23 -14 final quarter to win 95 – 76. Prazych (35) and Denchfield (21) led the way for the Erks, while Pringle (21) and Marks (19) kept the Lakers in with a chance.

Erks scorers:

Prazych 35, Denchfield 21, Churches 8, Overare 8, Pringle 7, Atkinson 6, Lee 5, French 5 & Sanghera.

Lakers scorers:

Pringle 21, Marks 19, Hall 10, Brandon 10, Wright 6, Campbell 3, Others 7.

Posted: February 8th 2009

Hainault Stars 78 Erks 79

Sunday 25th January, 2009 @Stars

The 5 man Erks team gave Hainult their first defeat of the season in a game that went to the wire. Man of the match Mark Denchfield hit 36 points, including a 3 pointer with 10 seconds to go, but it was a solid contribution from all 5 players that brought victory.

Young guard Shaq Sangura saw extended minutes with a depleted squad and he came up trumps with 19 points and numerous defensive steals. Keith Pringle added 16 points, including 5 in the final minute, and controlled the defensive boards with Garbage Time Dave Churches and Jonny Lee.

Erks opened up the lead early on and kept this until Hainult took the lead for the first time mid way through the 4th quarter. Hainult trio Graham Hill, Steve Ogunjimi and Alaxandra combined for 70 of their team's points and when they took the lead with all 3 having had rests throughout the game, it seemed as though they would go on to win.

However, 5 points each from Mark & Keith proved to be the difference at the death and even though Alaxandra had the final shot which would have given Hainult victory, when this rimmed out, Jonny Lee cleared up once again to give Erks the win.

Erks scorers:

Mark Denchfield 36; Shaq Sanguera 19; Keith Pringle 16; Garbage Time Dave Churches 8; Jonny Lee

Hainult: Ogujimi 22; Alaxandra 31; Hill 17 (others 8)

Posted: January 27th 2009

Erks 65 Cardinals 70

Thursday 4th December, 2008 @Cardinals

Erks lost their second away game in 2 weeks at Cardinals.

The visitors never got going in the 1st quarter and quickly fell behind 8 - 0 before Pete hit 2 "treys" but a further Cardinals run saw them take the first quarter 21 - 13.

The second quarter belonged to the Erks who hit 5 "treys" of their own, including 3 from Mark in the final minute to take the quarter 21 - 5 and take a half time lead of 34 - 26.

The 3rd quarter tilted Cardinals way with a 9 point swing to take a 1 point lead into the final quarter.

The game was anybody's in the final quarter but Cardinals took full advantage of their small gym by pressing over everyone, on and off the ball. This, coupled with a couple of bizarre refereeing calls to appease the Cardinals bench who roared every time the whistle was blown, gave the home side the momentum and a 7 point lead into the final minute and, ultimately, the home win.

Erks look forward to the home fixture on a full sized court and, if decent referees are appointed, Erks can be assured of a convincing home win!

Posted: December 5th 2008

Erks (22, 33, 52) 79 Gintaras (23, 44, 64) 81

Tuesday 25th November, 2008 @Sydney Russell

Erks slipped to their first defeat of the 2008-09 season, and a 5th successive reverse against Gintaras, as a furious second half comeback fell 2 points short at the Erks old stomping ground Sydney Russell School. The early stages of the game were closely fought as the Erks were slow to get going, but 9 points from Piotr Prazych in the last 3 minutes of the quarter meant that the Erks went into the break just 1 point in arrears.

Missing centre Dave Churches, the Erks struggled somewhat against a bigger Gintaras line up, with leading scorer Buivydas scoring most of his 23 points with moves around the baseline and Buivydas and his fellow big men picking up numerous offensive rebounds. The Lithuanians started to stretch away in the second period with number 2 Savirovas impressing whenever he was given a lane to drive, and with the Erks held to just 11 points in the quarter, the hosts led 44-33 at halftime.

That lead was extended to 20 points after a horror opening to the 3rd quarter, with Buivydas scoring 10 points in the first 5 minutes and point guard Kersis also hitting a couple of jump shots, the Erks only able to reply via a Mark Denchfield trey and a Jon Lee lay up. It took the introduction of Robin French to spark the Erks into life, the newly tattooed wing man hitting 2 threes with his first 2 touches and injecting some life into a lethargic Erks defense. Keith Pringle also started to drive more aggressively at that stage and the Erks came back to just 12 points down at the start of the final period.

The 4th quarter saw the Erks chip away steadily at the Gintaras lead with Prazych scoring around the basket and Pringle's aggressive driving fouling his opposite number out and seeing him take regular trips to the line. A Mark Denchfield trey saw the game close to 4 points with 2 minutes remaining, but the Erks inability to rebound allowed the Gintaras centre Kalncitis to score 2 baskets off second chances and also forced the Erks to foul as they couldn't gain possession.

Fortunately for the Erks, Gintaras went 3 for 10 from the line in the final 2 minutes, and with Pringle scoring 4 quick points and a turnaround prayer from the corner from Denchfield hitting nothing but net, the Erks rallied to 2 points down and had the ball to inbound with 3 seconds remaining. Unfortunately that was as good as it got, as Gintaras double teamed Pringle and a long inbound pass to French was broken up meaning the Erks were unable to get a shot off.

Erks scorers:

Denchfield 21, Prazych 20, Pringle 19, French 8, Rouhijainen 5, Lee 4, Overare 2, McCusker.

Posted: December 1st 2008