Magic Reports

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2 November 2009

Magic Prevail Over Warriors in Halloween Thriller

Manchester Magic 66 – 63 Leicester Warriors

The fans at the Amaechi Basketball Centre were treated to a scintillating contest as the Manchester Magic narrowly prevailed over the newly promoted Leicester Warriors on Saturday night.

The Magic opened their 2009/10 League campaign with a 66-63 victory against a Warriors team that showed tremendous poise, and came awfully close to what would have been a dramatic upset over a Magic side that remains undefeated this season. Stefan Gill and Brandon Kimbrough led the Magic with 25 and 24 points respectively, but they were the only Magic players in double figures as the rest of the home team combined to score only 15 points.

The Magic took a 12 point lead when Kimbrough converted a layup with 5:33 left to play in the third quarter. But the Warriors stormed back into the game as they went on an 18-7 run behind the hot shooting of their Lithuanian guard Md Janiska. He scored eight of his 11 points in the third as the Warriors trimmed the Magic lead to 52-51 heading into the fourth quarter.

The Magic entered the final period ahead by slender margin, but it didn’t last long, as Warriors guard Tyler Kathan drained a 3-pointer from the left wing to put them ahead by two. The visitors sensed they were on the verge of an upset, and surged further ahead when Michael Martin knocked down a pair of free throws but a long 3-pointer from Gill with 7:35 to play narrowed the gap to a single point.

The Magic struggled to look after the ball on the night committing 17 turnovers whilst registering just nine assists. They turned the ball over three times in quick succession late on, which led to a pull-up jumper by Warriors’ guard, Mark Spatcher, to put the visitors back up by four, but Kimbrough nailed a close range jumper to half the deficit to two.

The home side needed a lift from someone other than Gill and Kimbrough and that was provided by David Watts. The reigning EBL Player of the year calmly sunk a fade-away jumper from the left side as the shot clock expired to tie the game at 61, with three minutes to play.

But the Warriors maintained their composure, and Kathan hit a turnaround jumper on their next possession, to restore his side’s two point advantage. The Warriors displayed tremendous strength in depth, as four players scored 8 or more points, and their reserves outscored their Magic counterparts by 23 points to 6. But the home team defended their court valiantly and Gill drilled a huge 3-pointer from the top of the key to put the Magic ahead by one.

After Janiska misfired from the field, Leicester guard, Carl Pearson, stole the ball for the Warriors and set off on what appeared to be a fast break opportunity for the visitors. But he fumbled the ball and it was picked up by Magic forward Nathan Schall, who kicked it ahead to Kimbrough, who in return found Schall streaking towards the basket for a layup, to put the Magic ahead by three for the final margin.

Top scorers:
Manchester Magic: Stefan Gill 25, Brandon Kimbrough 24, David Watts 6
Leicester Warriors: Tyler Kathan 15, Md Janiska 11, Joe Reynoso /Mark Spatcher 10

Juma Ngqobongwana

 

18 October 2009

Magic Crush Liverpool To Cruise Into Cup Third Round

Manchester Magic 102 – 47 Liverpool

The Manchester Magic kicked off their National Cup campaign with a blowout victory over Liverpool at the Amaechi Basketball Centre.

The Magic held their opponents below 50 points for the second straight game as their smothering defensive pressure forced Liverpool to commit 27 turnovers.

Seven Magic players logged at least 25 minutes of playing time and 6 players scored 9 or more points in a comprehensive team performance.

After Liverpool centre Bart Zarembski opened the scoring with a layup, the Magic reeled off 16 unanswered points over the next 3 minutes, knocking the wind out of their opponent’s sails in the process. Whether it was their deadeye shooting from the outside, or their keenness to get out and run in transition, the Magic had the game under total control from the outset.

The home side knocked down 16 3-pointers in the game with 5 of those coming in the 1st quarter as they raced out to a 35 – 11 lead early on.

The visitors went on a 7-2 run at the start of the second quarter as the Magic reserves were unable to replicate the hot shooting of their starters. But Coach Jones re-inserted David Watts, Stefan Gill and Brandon Kimbrough with 5:40 to play in the half and the Magic went on a 14-3 run to give them a commanding 58 – 22 lead at the interval.

Any hopes Liverpool had of getting back into the game were dashed when the Magic continued their 3-point barrage with four more long range bombs in the 3rd quarter to extend their lead to 44 points by the end of the period.

To their credit Liverpool continued to compete and Alan Hardman’s 3-pointer at the final buzzer brought his points total to 16 to go with 6 boards. That final shot came after two rim-rattling dunks from the Magic’s exciting young forward Nathan Schall. The first came with 45 seconds to play when he gathered the ball on the baseline and went underneath the basket for a vicious jam on the other side of the rim which brought the ABC crowd to their feet. The second one came from a Liverpool turnover which led to a fast break and after a perfectly weighted pass off the backboard from James Hagan; Schall took to the sky and stuffed the ball home with two hands. Hagan had a great all round game snagging 9 rebounds and dishing out 5 assists as well as scoring 9 points.

The Magic will face the Glyndwr Nets at the ABC on Sunday November 8th in the 3rd Round.

Top Scorers
Manchester Magic: Brandon Kimbrough 20, Stefan Gill 18, Ambokile Bell 16
Liverpool:                Alan Hardman 16, Bart Zarembski /Niall Mullan 9, Matthew Robb 7

Juma Ngqobongwana

Tees Valley Thumped As Magic Top Trophy Table

Manchester Magic 81 – 44 Tees Valley Mohawks

The Magic took a 12 – 0 lead in the opening 4 minutes of the contest and they never looked back as they cruised to an 81 – 44 victory to finish at the top of their National Trophy group.

Stefan Gill scored 23 points in just 21 minutes of action as Coach Jeff Jones was able to rest his starters in the 4th quarter and give his reserves some extended playing time.

The visitor’s decision to implement a zone defence was immediately punished as Gill, David Watts and Brandon Kimbrough all connected from behind the arc on the Magic’s first 3 offensive possessions to give them a 9-0 lead 2 minutes into the game.

The Mohawks missed their first 6 field goal attempts as they were unable to get a foothold in the game; they trailed by 19 points after Magic forward Nathan Schall stole a pass from Tees Valley’s Kieran Wright and took the ball the length of the court for a ferocious two-handed dunk.

Despite their difficult start to the contest the visitors went on a 12 – 4 run in the second quarter to close the gap to 8 points thanks to some questionable ball handling decisions by the Magic players accompanied by 4 missed free throws. But a baseline jumper from Kimbrough was the start of a run of 9 unanswered points by the Magic capped off by a 3-pointer by Watts to put the Magic up by 42 – 25. Gill nailed his 4th 3-pointer of the half with 17 seconds to play to give the Magic a 20-point lead at the half time interval.

The Magic maintained a high level of play throughout the 3rd quarter as Coach Jones reverted back to his starters and they managed to maintain their 20 points for all but 17 seconds of the period holding the Mohawks to only 10 points.

The Magic dominated the boards thanks to the efforts of Adam Slater and Schall who grabbed 7 and 8 rebounds respectively.

Things didn’t get much better for the Mohawks in the 4th quarter as they continued to miss from the perimeter, firing up one 3-pointer after another (missing 6 in a row at one point), before a layup by Carl Colmer with 4:31 to play ended their scoring drought.

Ambokile Bell made a telling contribution off the bench with his tenacious defence which lead to several Tees Valley turnovers. He also displayed quick feet and superb anticipation, managing to get into position to draw 2 offensive fouls on the Mohawks. Bell finished the game with 9 points and 5 rebounds in 19 solid minutes off the bench.

Coach Jones will be glad that he was able to play his starters for limited minutes with a home Cup tie against Liverpool less than 24 hours away.   

Top Scorers
Manchester Magic:       Stefan Gill 23, Brandon Kimbrough 17, David Watts 14
Tees Valley Mohawks: Brian McCotter 11, Ikemefuna Attah 10, Carl Colmer / Ryan McQueen 6

Juma Ngqobongwana

11 October 2009

Leeds Carnegie 64 - 76 Manchester Magic

The result of this game would have a large bearing on who topped this group in the National Trophy. To overtake the Magic and take top spot, Leeds needed to win this game by 16 points having lost by 90 - 75 in the Magic's home leg.

In a tightly fought first quarter, Magic held the upper hand and, aided by 12 points from Tin Tin Watts, they ended the quarter with a 24 - 15 advantage. Two quick scores from Brandon Kimbrough opened the gap to 12 and, with the last three scores of the half going to Adam Slater, the Magic were able to maintain their superiority going into the interval.

An uninspiring low-scoring third quarter saw it shaded 14 -13 by Leeds and meant that they had reduced the deficit to six points for the start of the final quarter.

At the start of the fourth, Leeds jumped out and two unanswered scores further reduced the deficit to two points as they trailed 54 - 52. With two threes from Stefan Gill and one from Tin Tin, Magic went on a 20 - 6 tear that demoralised a Leeds team which had fought so hard to stay with the Magic. With time running out, Leeds were forced to foul to stop the clock which gave Kimbrough easy points from the charity stripe.

Top 3 Scorers
Magic:	Gill 21, Kimbrough 21, Watts 20
Leeds Carnegie:	Fenyn 20, Magai 12, Brown 12

Brian Dobson

6 October 2009

Tees Valley Mohawks  66 – 100  Manchester Magic

After travelling north on Sunday to the home of the Mohawks, the Magic made a slow start as the opening points went to the Mohawks. Gradually Magic regained control to take the first quarter 22 – 18.
A brace of threes from David Watts set the Magic on their way and, with a combined total of 25 points from Watts and Gill, gave the Magic a 53 – 29 advantage at half time.
The second half went much the way as the first, with Magic maintaining control of the game to run out comfortable winners 100 – 66 to take them to the top of their pool.

Brian Dobson
Top Scorers:
Manchester Magic	Stefan Gill 27, David Watts 20, Federico Fridel 13

5 October 2009

Leeds Left Out In The Cold As Stefan Scorches

Manchester Magic 90 – 75 Leeds Carnegie

Stefan Gill scored 14 of his game high 37 points in the first quarter and made a sizzling 10 of 12 3-pointers as the Magic 90–75 victory over Leeds Carnegie in their first EBL National Trophy game of the season.

After last season’s disappointing finale against the Reading Rockets, the Magic wanted to give their fans something to cheer about, and, with Gill seemingly unable to miss from behind the arc, they had plenty to celebrate.

Gill’s backcourt teammate Brandon Kimbrough was equally impressive as he poured in 30 points along with 9 assists and 7 rebounds.

Gill (who was one of the leagues top 3-point marksmen last season) seemed like a man on a mission from the outset as he knocked down four tough 3-pointers in the first 8 minutes of the contest. The Magic made 15 of their 24 attempts from downtown as they put on a shooting clinic in their pursuit of a trophy which has been held by the Reading Rockets for the past two seasons.
 
With last season’s starting centre Steve Boonham missing for the first part of the season the Magic have reinforced their starting lineup by adding reining EBL Player of the year David ‘Tin Tin’ Watts who led the Reading Rockets to their historic quadruple crown last season. Watts made his home debut in front of a packed ABC crowd and his new teammates did all they could to get their new running mate involved as he saw plenty of good looks early on. But he struggled with his shot and finished with 9 points on 3 of 13 shooting – however, he did have 7 rebounds and 5 assists.

The Magic led from start to finish and were up by as many as 18 points after Watts made a pair of free throws with 8:14 to play in the 4th quarter. But Carnegie made one last push for victory; led by their athletic small forward Ladi Brown who had a team high 22 points and 5 rebounds. He worked tirelessly to try and drag his team back into contention and they managed to reduce the Magic lead to only 7 points with 3:30 left to play in the game.

Brown had three dunks and 2 steals as he scored 6 points in a chaotic 37 seconds for the Magic as they were guilty of some sloppy ball handling and committed 3 turnovers in quick succession. Brown was fouled as he converted his third dunk of the game and went to the free throw line with a chance to cut the Magic lead to 6, but he missed the ensuing free throw and Gill knocked down his 9th 3-pointer of the evening from way behind the arc to push the Magic lead back up to double digits. On the Magic’s next trip down court Gill connected on a 3-pointer from the corner to put the Magic up 82-69 with only 2:12 to play.

The home side knew they would have their work cut out for them facing a Leeds Carnegie team who have recently been promoted to EBL Division one and were brimming with confidence after their victory over the Tees Valley Mohawks in their previous National Trophy game. But the Magic guards proved to be too hot to handle and led their side to a comfortable victory in the end.

Top Scorers:
Manchester Magic	Stefan Gill 37, Brandon Kimbrough 30, David Watts 9
Leeds Carnegie	Ladi Brown 22, Zoltan Supola 12, Adrian Fenyn 10 / Mike Medved 10

Juma Ngqobongwana

 

 

 

 

10 July 2008

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