Jets left stranded as Thomson catches fire
Cheshire Jets failed in their attempts to break Newcastle Eagles’ winning streak in the BBL Championship despite a mammoth fourth quarter to make the score-line more credible at 82-95.
The game was ultimately decided all within the opening ten minutes and thanks to one man.
Home and away supporters were stunned with Andrew Thomson’s tally of 21 points; eight from eight field goals, five from five outside of the arc. It was a humiliating way for Cheshire to start the game, with defence amounting to next to nothing. Thomson’s tally surpassed even just what the Jets could muster collectively, with the quarter finishing up 20-36.
The Thomson Express slowed down in the second stanza, but the visitors didn’t. Newcastle kept the ball well, and although midway through the quarter it seemed as though Cheshire might have begun a charge to pull themselves back into the game, they were again undone by three pointers from Joe Chapman and Charles Smith just before half-time.
Being 22 points down, 42-64, it looked like a nightmare scenario ahead, and a disappointing way to end a good month for Cheshire on the back of three straight wins.
It was about to get a whole lot worse, with the restart seeing the game move further from their grasp and looked to be an almighty blow-out as the first five minutes saw 15-4 in favour of the Eagles. Although there was a game high lead of 36 points, it was a much tighter end to the quarter as points traded but closed up 53-87.
It was expectant that Newcastle would easily reach triple figures at this point, however that was not on the same script for Cheshire. Adam Brown and Bill Cole came out to claim the early points for the home side, followed up by Thomson’s final points of the night. Cole again, followed by Darius Defoe before what the Northgate had waited for all evening.
After a foul on Cole, his shot from the free throw line brought it in to 30 points adrift. Captain Colin O’Reilly then stepped up to hit a three, which brought confidence to his side. Brown wanted in on the action too and followed up with one of his own, along with another four points. Within a minute the deficit had been cut to 20 with almost three and a half minutes left. Cole grabbed two more, O’Reilly hit both of his from the free throw line. Matt Schneck, who before the game was sounded out as the main target for the Eagles, he hit two points.
An incredible 19-0 run had been produced, however, Chapman punished again from outside leaving the score just out of reach from the Jets with hardly any time left. Late points from Brown and Schneck brought it in to just 13 points, before Eagles ran down the clock, and claimed their eighth straight BBL Championship victory, and 11th consecutive in all competitions.
Thomson’s points tally, especially in the first quarter was stand out, however Cheshire did have double-doubles for Cole and Schneck, and almost for O’Reilly.
It leaves Newcastle still clear in the league table with that one loss to eighteen wins, effectively with a three game lead, and after Guildford’s shock victory over Plymouth, Cheshire are tying for the last play-off spot with Heat.
After the game, Jets coach John Lavery lamented on the initial start to the game as a reason to the loss: “We just didn’t show at all, thought we were poor in the first quarter and it just obviously snowballed after that.
“There was no intensity out there; no desire to stop anybody, those guys could get whatever they wanted, especially in the first quarter. We just couldn’t play any defence whatsoever.”
Despite having pulled the game back and won against Glasgow Rocks the previous Sunday, featured on Sky Sports, it was clear Lavery wished his side had started the way it ended: “It wasn’t the fight back that I was disappointed in, it was the way we started the game. We didn’t play any defence at all, that’s the most upsetting and disappointing thing, not the fight back. We lost the game by 13, but that was a 40 to 50 point loss for us without a shadow of a doubt, we just didn’t come and play at all and that was the upsetting thing.”
For those at the game, the reluctance to deal with Andrew Thomson in the first quarter was a sticking point, but Lavery insists it could have been anyone on the Eagles side that had put the sword to his team: “It could have been any of those guys, if it wasn’t Thomson, it was going to be someone else. We just didn’t show up at all on the defensive end.”
On how to stop the rot going into the last quarter, he said: “All I said to them going into the fourth quarter was forget about what has happened in the first three quarters, we’re coming out and we’re playing for pride in the fourth quarter, so let’s go out and win this fourth quarter.
“They came out, won the fourth quarter, but it’s just not good enough, people have got to turn up week in week out and put a performance in for forty minutes, not just for ten minutes. That’s what I thought happened today, we just didn’t show up and play. It wasn’t one person, it wasn’t two – it was a number of people that just didn’t turn up.”
Kai Williams, younger brother of former Jets player Jamal, featured for almost half an hour, and made somewhat of an impression on Lavery, despite having landed the day previous: “The more guys you have in the rotation, the harder it is to make sure you play your minutes on court. It is going to help us, but he’s only just come in, we’ve got to get him a full week’s practice and see what happens after that.”
Cheshire Jets: 20, 42, 53, 82
Newcastle Eagles: 36, 64, 87, 95
Jets: Cole (26), O’Reilly (18), Brown (17)
Eagles: Thomson (29), Chapman (18), Bridge/Smith (11)
