Chasers Archive 2008-9

WOKING BLACKHAWK CHASERS 61 – 50 AZTEC COBRS

 

The Chasers made it!!! After a great victory against REME, the Chasers went victorious through a thriller game hosting the Cobras. The score was tied for almost the whole length of this match. Firstly because the Cobras followed our team with also very fast motion on the court. Secondly as one of the referees gave us a concert of completely not to be explained decisions what made even the calmest members of the audience (including Head Coach and Club Management) jump out of their seats. Coach Tyrkiel tried to keep this game under control, although he had 12 available man on the bench, in order to keep the score secured, used mostly 6-7 of his 12 players for most of the game who where most effective in this battle, but even the guys giving short substitutions did stand the ground very well keeping the score secured. Congratulations Chasers!!!

 

WOKING BLACKHAWK CHASERS 86 – 71 ARBORFIELD REME

 

This was one of those games that go to history!!! Chasers became the only team in our division so far who’s beaten REME. Not only that – in such a great style. 8 players on our side, full focus, team spirit and amazing chemistry on the court for the whole game. The pace of it was fastest that anyone watching could keep up. Josh Hearn opened the game for the Chasers with a classic three-pointer. The baskets were falling in on the both sides, but hosts took the lead and did not want to let go. From the start we could notice how much work on the backboards put Paul Sinnick and Ryan Haliday who overall grabbed 14 rebounds (10 D. and 4 O.) Josh tried to push his way around inside as well, but somehow the refs awarded him 4 fouls, and he had to make his way to the bench. The rebounds were not the only defensive hard work. The “Fast and Furious” today were Alex, Francis and Jason who pressured the 3-point line area and managed to grab a number of steals pushing them immediately to fast breaks (Ryan joined often as well running all the way to the other end as well). REME tried different ways and plays, but Chasers, who had the lowest rate of turnovers today comparing to averages from the whole season stood a pressure or rather – they pressured REME to commit more turnovers in our favour. At times though Chasers needed to “cool down” like an overheated engine and there was an experienced Stanko Markovic, who focused on the defensive side and grabbed few essential rebounds enabling to reset the game for the team which led to points to Chasers account. Finally he got his dream shooting position and managed to score a beautiful half distance shot. Absolutely important substitution was given by Steve Blackburn whose debut it was in the Chasers games today, but did not fail under the pressure, and by strong posture and actions denied any attempts of REME to take an advantage over a situation. The first quarter finished with a 20 point lead for the Chasers. Than things got a bit “shaky”, fortunately only for a moment. Ryan who literally run his legs of for the whole time caught his fourth foul and needed to sit anyway, being very tired. The guys under pressure of desperate REME started rushing their passes and shots a bit, what led to turnovers and points from the opponents. Coach Tyrkiel asked for a timeout and made it clear that at this moment all we needed was playing longer in offence as the time worked for us, and definitely we had to be back in time for the defence as REME would be pushing every ball fast forward looking now for any chance to score. Fortunately Francis and Alex started again intimidating the other team with their amazingly fast steals but in the offence the Chasers this time played slow and cleaver to find clear shots to make. REME tried to save last seconds by fouling purposely, but it did not really help them, and the Chasers won this spectacular and heard pounding game fully deserving it for team work, commitment and clever play.

 

WOKING BLACKHAWK CHASERS 109 – 53 BASINGSTOKE BOBCATS

 

Bobcats arrived at Woking Leisure Centre just in 5 players. As soon as the game started Chasers took the lead, and having a double amount of players available for the court as the opponents, they left no doubt which team would get a pink match report. This game clearly was a chance for trying different strategies and players combination for future games, especially having REME still to play. At the last quarter literally 5 players played for first 5 minutes, and than the whole bench entered the court to finish off the match. Our top scorers were Matt Blair (19) and Josh Hearn (18) who grabbed this game MVP adding to his scoring record 3 assists, 3 steals, 5 rebounds, and what also very valuable – no turnovers at all. Also worth mentioning was 11 rebounds of Ryan Haliday as well as 100% of field goals (5 made per 5 attempts) of Alex Counter who clearly took a shoot only when clear position but served others not forcing a shot while covered by the defence – good job guys. Chasers have 3 more games to play: Scorpions – 29.03; REME – 05.04; and Cobras – 19.04 which will close the 2008/2009 league season.

 

AZTEC LEMMINGS 77 – 82 WOKING BLACKHAWKS CHASERS

 

FINALLY!!! The Chasers were victorious again!!! The long awaited win became true not because being superstitious (don’t worry Helen ;-)) but thanks to an excellent all around play by every single Chaser this day. We also have to give lots of credit to amazing performance of our new duo on the Team: Paul and Luke who had a crucial influence on the game. Lemmings were playing the same, very physical and aggressive style with a lot of not necessary fouls, sometimes going much “over the board” with it, but exceptional refs this day did not allow at some point for this expand to much. Still it was not an easy game to play, but the mixture of style on the side of Woking performance, were Chasers able to find a way to the basket from underneath the rim as well as from three points distance gave them a lead from the very beginning (16-1 after first 5 minutes of the game for the Chasers!!!!!!!!!!). Obviously the Lemmings managed to collect themselves and play a decent game but Woking never let the game to slip out of control. Every player contributed if not with points than with rebounds, steals or assists, everything was a fascinating to watch team work. Francis Long made a good lead on the court also grabbing the MVP of this game title just ahead of Paul Sinnick. Once again congratulations to Blackhawk Chasers who not only very seriously worked for the final score, but also seemed to have a lot of fun playing together. Good job!!!

 

WOODLEY GREEN FLASH 81 – 80 WOKING BLACKHAWK CHASERS

 

This is just too much seeing the same happening twice in a row. The Chasers played absolutely fabulous basketball, where everything was in place from under the rim, defence as well as signature for the Chasers spectacular fast break attacks. This was also an excellent coaching debut for Francis Long who played led us from the bench, and contributed a lot on the court. The more bitter the loss. For the whole game the score was almost even. The last quarter were dominated by the Chasers who got to 5 point lead 2 minutes and 11 seconds till the end of the game. Seconds before the last whistle, when Chasers were two points ahead, Steve Darce of Woodley hit a “3-pointer”. The Chasers tried to get the ball into the opponents rim twice, unsuccessfully and the 1 point loss became a fact, so unlucky for the ambitious Chasers. One thing to note again and again and again and again is… permanent inconsistency of players’ availability. One thing I’d wish for as a Team Manager and Coach (the switch with Francis was made on purpose for today) is just being sure that I do have the same solid team of people playing the games. Unfortunately the story started when we lost our first game to REME. The Chasers are able to win this whole league, but for number of reasons there is always some of them not available for the league game. If there is all of us together right were we should if we have the ambitions to do well, no one would be able to stop this fabulous team. Well, what can anyone do, NOT being present for the success that started building and let it slip through the fingers - sad, but true. Anyway, thanks to the guys who could be there today and put all the effort and sweat in the game. Coach Adrian.

 

THE SHOW MUST GO ON

 

The Chasers still have a positive balance of 6 wins and 4 loses, and there is 6 games to play this season. There they are in order:

 

15 FEB – 19:45 AWAY – WOODLEY GREEN FLASH

22FEB – 16:15 HOME – ARBORFIELD REME

10 MAR – 19:30 AWAY – AZTEC LEMMINGS

22 MAR – 16:15 HOME – BASINGSTOKE BOBCATS

29 MAR – 16:15 HOME – SLOUGH SCORPIONS

19 APR – 16:15 HOME – AZTEC COBRAS

 

WOKING BLACKHAWK CHASERS 59 – 60 WINDSOR WARRIORS

 

The biggest nightmare of any basketball coach or a player is to loose a winning game at the very end by one point on your home court. That is what exactly happened to the Chasers on Sunday despite a fantastic support of the Blackhawks fans in Woking Leisure Centre. Definitely we can not blame the hosts for that loss as they played absolutely a beautiful game. The Chasers played this time completely without young “fast and furious” U18s, but they showed everything best you can get of a basketball player: heart for the game, moving the ball, pressure in defence, intelligent play according to the scenario, and lots of dedication and team work. What happened than? As Chasers played very consistently for most of the game to the very end, the Warriors had a series of long distance shots which despite strong defence ended up as points. There were just one to many of those and after a full of emotions and hopes last minutes of the game Chasers found themselves short of just one point. Most importantly, The Chasers showed they are a TEAM a play well with each other, even lucking our clubs young blood. We are looking forward to the rest of the season J.

 

CAMBERLEY BLUE JAYS 78 – 59 WOKING BLACKHAWK CHASERS

 

That probably was the most unfortunate of the games played by any team of Blackhawks in the club history. Well deserved victory for Camberley whose players stood literally a wall zone defence and no one of Blackhawks could go through. Unfortunately there was only one player on the side of the Chasers making a decent percentage of distance shots. Despite well organized opponents The Chasers just were not able (mostly physically) to play the highest standard of basketball what reflected in a big number of unforced turnovers (beside those forced by Blue Jays) and an extremely low percentage of field attempts. Well there have to be days like that in every players career, so the Team will have to get over a weak moment and must win the 7 remaining matches plus hope for our close opponents to trip on the way loosing some points against other teams.

 

AZTEC COBRAS 55 – 59 WOKING BLACKHAWK CHASERS

 

The first game of the New Year and the third straight game played away became a good start into 2009 for the Chasers, although it was on the edge to the very last minutes. The Cobras had tall and physically strong players who blocked the way to the basket and almost all the time were back to defence “on time” to avoid the fast breaks. The first two quarters The Chasers seemed to control the game leading by 2 up to 8 points. Coach Tyrkiel felt completely confident in his players having unusually eleven of them this time on the bench what never happened before when Chasers had to travel. At the beginning of the third quarter he overestimated the fortune of these proportions and started to experiment with the combination of the squad on the court. Cobras used this chance, and almost immediately took a strong lead 33 – 23. Than it was the last call for rotating all 5 players and a mad race began. Basketball did not seem to be an easy game anymore as Cobras saw their chances. The officials allowed for a lot of contact trying not to be picky with every situation, but Cobras took it as an advantage and played very strong. There was quite much of a heroism of James Dean there looking sometimes tiny between the Cobras but running his legs off went beyond and above trying to finish his fast breaks, but so many times was knocked down to the floor by physical attacks of the tired but determined Cobras players. After one of his excellent rallies, when it was clear that the ball is on the way to the rim we saw him again falling down to the floor with the ball after the defensive chase after him. That was much to much for Coach Tyrkiel to accept what ended with… a Technical Foul for the Chasers Coach! But the Blackhawks were flying high that night and no one could stop them once they got the rhythm. Francis Long who joined us after a long absence was a huge engine of motivation and energy on the court and did not let anyone hesitate or give up. They all kept attacking over and over again to the limits of their breathing abilities. Matt Blair showed his phenomenal shooting talent again from the distance as well as accurately finishing the fast breaks. Finally the Cobras got really exhausted and started missing their distance attempts, the following few fast breaks gave the Chasers the lead of 2 points. Being so concentrated on not letting it go for the second time this night and so dedicated to the game the Chasers deserve their away victory against theoretically the second behind REME strongest of our opponents. These have been a very important 2 points for us into our League standings. Congratulations Chasers!

 

SLOUGH SCORPIONS 42 – 54 WOKING BLACKHAWK CHASERS

 

What a great finish by the Chasers at the end of the year 2008. And again not many players went to play this second in a row away game, just 6 plus a playing Coach, who was not needed on the court this time. It definitely was a completely different game to the one in Basingstoke. At first, all but one player stuck in the traffic on M25, and as a result the Chasers made it to the Slough late, nearly half an hour after the planned game tip off. Great thanks to the Officials and Scorpions Coach, Players and Staff for being so kind to wait for us with starting the game. Not warmed up Chasers began from loosing points, but Coach Tyrkiel was not really putting any pressure on them to speed up the game, trying to avoid any possible injuries. Three short players on Slough side were extremely fast on legs, pressing man2man in defence, also transferring the ball very fast into the offensive side of the court. Chasers very quickly found themselves loosing by 17 points what did not look promising for the rest of the game, but the Coach still did not see any reason to panic from behind the side line. After the Chasers warmed up well there finally was high time for some adjustments. Quick observations allowed us to spot which Slough players were good shooters and needed more attention. The others were time after time driving in… the same way and pattern. Josh, Gary, Jason and Stanko (who had to sit on the bench a bit later because of a minor knee injury) started taking care of the backboards, and here Gary Webster deserves most of the glory for getting 12 rebounds in the game. Gary also together with very fast this day Jason, after Coaches instructions started setting up effective traps in one of the corners which Scorpions “chose” for their driving inside, well, not anymore… Josh with excellent passing was setting up Matt and David for a fast break with excellent pass accuracy. The Chasers’ two fast “bullets” needed no more but just to execute points after points taking on their self some fouls and added some free throws as well.

Well, the New Year is coming soon bringing new challenges starting off with another away game, this time against Aztec Cobras, and the Chasers after loosing at their own court to the Lemmings are preparing for it strongly. We are looking forward to some of our players coming back: Francis, Alex, Nick, as well as some new strength to the Team: Doug, Tom and Peter, who will add some height so needed under the rim.

So far that’s how the Standings look like according to Wessex basketball website:

 

Place/Team

G

W

L

P

1. Woking Blackhawk Chasers

7

5

2

12

2. Aztec Cobras

6

4

2

10

3. Slough Scorpions

8

2

6

10

4. Aztec Lemmings

6

3

3

9

5. Aborfield R.E.M.E.

4

4

0

8

6. Woodley Green Flash

6

2

4

8

7. Camberley Blue Jays

5

2

3

7

8. Windsor Warriors Mans’ 2s

5

1

4

6

9. Basingstoke Bobcats

3

2

1

5

 

J THE CHASERS WISH EVERYONE VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!! J

 

 

BASINGSTOKE BOBCATS 51 – 70 WOKING BLACKHAWK CHASERS

 

I just HAVE TO repeat myself: “Who was expecting such a scenario?”!!! CHASERS WON!!!!!!!!!! Where is the surprise? There were no more than 5 players and a playing coach (5, 4 ft tall - just for the subs) for this game played AWAY. No one obviously was talking about loosing before it, but everyone silently agreed that we were going there definitely to enjoy ourselves, playing a beautiful sport of basketball, even if against all odds. The strategic plan could not be much more simple: JOSH, MATT, CHRIS, GARY and STANKO on the court, and if any of them feels tired and needs the break, just gives a signal to a playing coach standing by an empty bench to give minute or two of rest with a substitution. Defence set up could not be complicated, just a 2-3 zone of which main purpose was to let the players survive practically 40 minutes on the court, and maximize a possibility of a high percentage of missed long distance attempts from the Bobcats. The adjustment made later, only brought more focus on boxing out and rebounds, because actually the opponents were missing their distance shots, what worked for us! That gave a great chance for Matt and Chris running their excellent fast breaks, while Josh, Stanko and Gary did all the hard work on the backboards. When it came down to a position offence, it just looked like a school training session. The Chasers kept passing the ball between each other until one of them had a clear shooting position. I have to appraise a high percentage of made shots by all five of them. Great job!

The first and the second quarter seemed to really surprise the Bobcats, especially the points’ execution from the field, and from behind the 6,25 line. At some point of the game the score 26 – 56 surprised even the Chasers with the 30 point lead. The Bobcats started to press aggressively, but also playing nervous and rushing made lots of turnovers and missed shots, while the Chasers tried to keep cool and play slowly. They were cleverly just waiting for a chance to strike. One more thing to underline: There was an absolutely great officiating, fair and professional for both teams and what the most interesting and different to our last game… There were no more that one or two TRAVELLING charges in the whole match.

And one more thing I just can not resist…The highlight of the game: The playing Coach (5.4 ft. tall just to remember), just before the end of the game scored his first two points in the season with beautiful distance “of the backboard” angle shot (…well, I am sorry, I just couldn’t help it, had to mention that) J Yeeeeeeeesss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, the Chasers are back to the game with 4 wins and 2 losses, and are not going to give up!

Let’s dedicate this win to our seriously injured team mate Lukasz, who most likely will not be able to come back onto the court for the rest of the season, but today had been at home impatiently awaiting news about the finale score, being with the team with all his heart and soul.

J GO CHASERS!!! J

 

 

CHASERS 57 – 62 AZTEC LEMMINGS

 

A second lost game in the row but who was expecting such a scenario? Since first seconds of the game the Lemmings put a very strong resistance to fast and enthusiastic game of the Chasers. They dominated the court with physical strength and a very good team passing offensive game, mixing a positioning play with good driving inside the paint. You could tell they were experienced players. But the score after lots of Chasers fast breaks and quality competition on the backboards was kept even. The match probably would have been a quite nice game to watch if not three major factors. Firstly The Lemmings got a little bit overheated on the court what ended actually in some technical fouls given. Secondly, the Officials seemed to decide to be a centre part of the show, and gave as many whistles in the game for e.g. travelling, lines and fouls as never seen before, and the game got stopped almost constantly. But the most unfortunate was one of our regular players, Lukasz, who six and a half minutes before the end of the game, suffered a very serious knee injury while landing after successfully making a beautiful fast break lay up (2 points awarded Lukasz!). The game had to be stopped for almost half an hour and Lukasz was taken by an ambulance to the hospital. The crowd at the sports hall together with the players thanked him for the beautiful play with a round of applause on the way to the door. For the rest of the fourth quarter the Chasers tried to gain any point advantage, but two tall players having 4 fouls at their account awarded before by spectacular this day Referees, could not afford playing a pressure defence. Despite desperate attempts to gain some field points and after few good fast breaks of the Lemmings, the game slipped out of our hands by just 5 points.

 

ABORFIELD R.E.M.E.   89 – 72   CHASERS

 

After a lot of sweat, frustration and heroic attempts to turn the scenario to their benefit the Chasers had to accept the defeat against consistently performing REME. Definitely, the reason for the loss was not lack of skill, but unfortunately lack of… players who for different reasons were not able to attend the game. Well, the harder to accept the “yellow score sheet”. The game had a very interesting, at moments full of dramatic turns. The first quarter indicated already that any of the both team could win. From the very start home players made consistent shots, proving that it was “their” gym, but Josh, Matt and Chris were not much behind with good shots from half-distance. Unfortunately for the Chasers their opponents dominated with height and body mass in the middle and together with their high percentage of shots earned about 20 points lead by the half time. At this moment Coach Tyrkiel decided to change the defence to what’s called a “junk” defence, which is half zone – half man2man. It worked!!! Stanko, Lukasz and Alex were set for fast breaks, which resulted in points or fouls turned to scoring from the free throw line. After quick returns to defensive set up, the Chasers started to steal, block or rebound the ball at every inch of the court, and after a great effort of all the players they managed to reach REME to a point difference of just 4 points. But after such a heroic effort of the Chasers, REME was the only team who could afford to put substitutions in the place of their tired players and keep up the consistent play. Despite Will and Dan giving their best to fill in, the Chasers could not keep up the body devastating pace against using their physical strength as an advantage REME. In just last few minutes of the fourth quarter home players made seven “three pointers”, what finally decided about the game. Once again big thanks to Josh, Matt, Chris, Stanko, Lukasz, Alex, Dan and Will for their efforts, and for… coming to the game, the most important game this part of the season, that could have been won, as we saw our chances on the court. But let’s hope for the best, as The Chasers still have 3 wins, and will just have to keep winning more and on top of that – to beat REME in Woking by more than 17 points. Just not to forget… Chasers can win anything… they just all need to show up firstJ. Good Luck.

 

CHASERS NEXT GAME

27.10.2008 – Away Game against Aborfield R.E.M.E.

 

 

Chasers 90 – 50 Woodley Green Flash

12th October

 

The blistering pace and relentless hustle of the young Chasers was just too much for Green Flash to cope with as they recorded their 3rd win of the season. Coach Tyrkiel was impressed with the play-making of the whole team, but particularly with James Dean who was lethal with his fast break layups, and with overall game MVP Matt Blair.

 

 

Chasers 83 – 52 Windsor Warriors

Tuesday 7th October – Chasers this evening clocked up their first away win – Match Report to follow

SEASON 2008/2009

Season starts in late September: With the Wessex League season starting in a few weeks time, Chasers are still looking for new players to come and join them. They will be competing in Division 2 this season as a result of winning promotion last year. Come along to a Thursday night training session at Winston Churchill School Sports Centre( 9pm - 11pm) to have a try-out and meet the Coaches.

Its all change for the Chasers in the coming season, as this magnificent team of players that came together for just one season go off their separate ways. Some players are off to university, some will form the nucleus of the Blackhawks U18 National League squad, and others will remain to play again. We also say farewell to Coach Ben LeTourneau as he makes the decision to continue his Basketball playing career elsewhere - we wish him well.

In with the new! - as we welcome Coach Adrian Tyrkiel to the club as the new Chasers Coach. Adrian is originally from Poland and brings a wealth of coaching experience to the UK as well as a real passion for the game.

if you are interested in playing competitive Basketball then come along to a Chasers training session on Thursday nights at Winston Churchill School - Meet at 8.45 for session that runs from 9pm - 11pm.