The Winchester Kings

The Winchester Kings are competing in the Wessex League 3rd division for the 2010-11 season.

Final Wessex League Mens Div 3 tables 10/11

BCLT Games vs Kings, Lightwater, Slough 2 and Chiltern are void (both teams receive 0 points).

Kings All time Scorers from 2010-11 season

Winchester Kings game reports

Kings go down in Wessex Plate Final

The Winchester Kings, missing their two big men, lost out in the mens Wessex Plate final to the Division 2 runners up Aztec Jaguars.

The Kings struggled offensively from the start, with the big men out the Jaguars were able to extend their defence and stop the guards scoring. The only Kings player that could score consistently was Tom Smith who scored 10 of the Kings 15 first quarter points. The Aztecs moved the ball well on offence and had the Kings chasing shadows for large parts of the game.

The Aztecs increased their lead from 20-15 after 1 quarter to 34-28 after 2.

In the 3^rd the Kings seemed to get a foothold in the game, 7 minutes in the Kings built a 42-37 advantage on a Tom Smith driving layup. The Aztecs then outscored the Kings 11-2 to end the quarter up 48-44.

The Kings inexperience showed in the final quarter as they struggled to score, while giving away too many fast break opportunities to the Jaguars. The Kings, who had been in foul trouble the whole game, lost Adam Gillies, Stu Ralph and Thom Attwood in the first 6 minutes of the 4^th quarter and were outscored 15-1 in that time to drop 63-45 down. The Jaguars used their wise old heads to see out the game winning it 76-56.

Scorers: Tom Smith 24, Adam Gillies 13, Jon Pickering 13, Sam James 3, Stu Ralph 3, Tom Attwood, Rich Styants, Mike Castle, Rob Deyzel, Dave Senart

Kings of Wessex? 

The Winchester Kings overpowered BCLT United at River Park Leisure Centre on Sunday to finish their first league campaign with 12 wins, 4 defeats and possibly the league title. Their opponents BCLT, a Reading based team of Lithuanian players, may be docked points due to poor administration. BCLT are currently showing 9 wins against only 3 losses, they have failed to send in score sheets for 4 of their home games so the results of those games have not been officially recorded.

The Kings came out playing aggressive defence holding BCLT to just 1 free throw in the first 7 minutes while scoring 11 themselves. On one offence BCLT looked to have an easy breakaway only for the Kings diminutive guard Jon Pickering to make up the ground and fly through the air like a cricket on steroids, to block the shot of the much taller BCLT player. BCLT then connected with 3 long range 3 pointers to help bring them back to just 16-12 down at the end of the first quarter.

Adey Rochester scored 8 of his 10 points in the 2^nd quarter to help the Kings to a 38-26 half time lead.

The Kings defensive pressure really told in the 3^rd quarter as their opponents began to tire. The Kings, lead by Stu Ralph offensively in the quarter, managed to increase their lead by 7 to lead to 54-35 after 3 quarters.

The Kings put on their 1-3-1 trapping defence to start the 4^th quarter, this frustrated BCLT who struggled to get the ball up court. With the Kings up70-42, 7 minutes into the 4^th quarter, BCLT’s frustration, which had been simmering for a while, boiled over they strongly disputed a call by the referee then carried on with the verbal disputes which ended up with 5 technical fouls being called on the BCLT team and the player coach being sent from the area of play. Rob Deyzel and Mike Castle shared the free throw shooting responsibilities to help the Kings to an 83-47 win.

The Kings will take the confidence from this win into the Wessex Plate final on Sunday 15 May when they take on the Aztec Jaguars, 2pm at Aldershot Army Garrison. The Ladies team, the Panthers, will also be playing at 2pm on the adjacent court in the Ladies Plate final.

Scorers: Adam Gillies 16, Jon Pickering 13, Mike Sampson 12, Stu Ralph 11, Rob Deyzel 11, Adey Rochester 10, Tom Smith 7, Thom Attwood 3, Mike Castle 2.

Panthers and Kings book their places for Wessex Finals day.

Both the Winchester Panthers and Winchester Kings dominated their semi final opponents to book their places in the Womens and Mens Wessex Plate Finals.

The Panthers won away to the Farnborough Lady Phantoms by 39-60 to ensure a finals meeting against the Swindon Sonics. The Panthers coach, Jill Palmer and Kings player coach Jon Pickering, were extremely pleased with their teams efforts and are looking forward to what are sure to be tough finals at the Aldershot Garrison Ground on Sunday 15 May.

The Kings took on the Yateley Silverbacks, whom they had already beaten convincingly home and away in the league. The Silverbacks had clearly been working hard, over the past couple of weeks, to find a way of beating the Kings pressure defence. They positioned themselves round the court better and where able to beat the press on several occasions. At half time the Kings only held a 30-39 lead. The Silverbacks were helped greatly by the noisey crowd that tried their best to put the Kings off their game.

The 3rd quarter was the best quarter of the game for the Kings as the effort the Silverbacks had to put in during the first half began to tell. They visibly tired leading to more mistakes against the Kings trap. The guards Jon Pickering and Sam James took over on the offensive end driving to the hoop or hitting 3 pointers to open up a 45-64 lead by the end of the 3rd.

In the 4th the Kings mercilously kept the pressure on the Silverbacks defensively and attacked the basket offensively. Adam Gillies bought the backboard down with a flying dunk attempt, luckly Mike Sampson was able to push it back into place so the game could continue. The Kings eventually ran out winners by 55-84.

The Kings will face the Aztec Jaguars, who have just gained promotion to division 1, in the final. This will be the Kings toughest challenge yet.

Scorers: Adam Gillies 18, Tom Smith 17, Adey Rochester 16, Jon Pickering 13, Sam James 12, Mike Sampson 8, Dave Clarke, Tom Attwood, Mike Castle, Stuart Ralph, David Senart. 

Kings of the Swingers

The Winchester Kings used a 20-0 run to start the 3rd quarter to defeat, next months Wessex Plate Semi final opponents, the Yateley Silverbacks at Kings School.

The Kings started the game in superb form using their size and strength to control the game early under both baskets. After 1 quarter the Kings held a 24-15 lead.

The Kings switch up their defence at half time and came out with a trapping 1-3-1 zone defence. This took the Yateley team by surprise as they struggled to get the ball into threatening positions. The Kings caused turnover after turnover and went on a 20-0 run during the first 8 minutes of the quarter, including 10 points from Tom Smith, and 2 three pointers from Stu Ralph.

The Kings kept the pressure up in the final quarter which included a superb steal by Stu Ralph leading to a thunderous dunk, while being fouled, for big Mike Sampson on the break. The Kings eventually ran out 75-47 winners.

Scorers: Tom Smith 26, Adam Gillies 12, Mike Sampson 10, Stu Ralph 9, Jon Pickering 7, Adey Rochester 4, Steve Vaughan 4, Thom Attwood 2, Tom Slocombe 1.

Scorpion Kings

The Winchester Kings chalked up the clubs highest ever score of 124 points on route to hammering fellow promotion rivals the Slough Scorpions.

Slough only turned up with 6 players for this key promotion game and had no real height under the basket. The Kings went out and played a full court man to man from the start to the finish of the game, knowing this would tire their opposition.

The guards harried their Slough counterparts into making mistakes and fed the big Winchester forwards for easy inside moves. Tom Smith was the main beneficiary in the first quarter scoring 17 of the Kings 34 points. A sam James 3 ensured the quarter ended 34-17 to the Kings.

If Slough were hoping for a let up in the second quarter it didn’t happen as the bench came in and kept up the same intensity defensively as the starters. By the end of the half the Kings had built a 60-35 lead.

With Jon Pickering and Sam James taking it in turns to battle with Sloughs outstanding guard Richardson, Mike Sampson continuing to hit his jump shots and Adey Rochester and Tom scoring consistently in the paint, the Kings pushed out to a 76-40 advantage 5 minutes into the 3rd quarter. This increased to 88-48 by the end of the 3rd.

The Kings passed the 100 point mark 3 minutes into the 4th quarter on a Stu Ralph drive. Mike Sampsons short range jump shot took the Kings passed the Wasps high scoring record of 110 with 3.30 left in the game. The end of the game went end to end with 28 points shared between the teams. The Final score was Winchester Kings 124-73 Slough Scorpions. All 10 Wasps got on the score sheet, Tom Smith top scored with 35 points for the Kings and Richardson scored 34 for the Slough team in their losing effort.

Scorers: Tom Smith 35, Mike Sampson 22, Jon Pickering 17, Adey Rochester 17, Sam James 15, Stu Ralph 8, Rob Deyzel 4, Rich Styants 2, David Senart 2, Mike Castle 2 - Free Throws - 11/23.

Kings spank the Monkey

The Winchester Kings went into the game knowing that they would have to win away to the top of the table, Yateley Silverbacks, to keep their promotion hopes alive. They did not disappoint as they gave their best performance of the season destroying the Silverbacks 48-91 in front of a crowd of 50-60 lively Yateley supporters.

The Kings used a full court man to man defence from the start of the game and were able to force the Silverbacks into turnovers which lead to easy Kings points. With Stu Ralph and Jon Pickering bossing the backcourt Yateley were forced into a time out 3 minutes into the game trailing 3-13.

Yateley started to break the defence more frequently but then ran into the Kings big men around the basket. With Mike Sampson, Tom Smith, Adey Rochester and Adam Gillies dominant in the paint at both ends, Rob Deyzel hitting a gliding one hander and Sam James offering the outside threat the Kings turned an 8-30 1st quarter lead into a 21-52 half time scoreline.

Even the Silverbacks organ music couldn’t help the home team turn the tide in the 3rd quarter as the Kings continued to dominate the Yateley side. The Kings pushed out to their biggest lead at 26-71 on a jump shot by David ‘The Bear’ Senart and ended the quarter leading 30-74.

The Kings backed off a bit more in the final quarter and Yateley took full advantage winning the quarter 18-17 to give the home support something to cheer about.

With the top 2 teams promoted it looks to be between, the Lithuanian team, BCLT United who have only lost 1 this season, Yateley who now have 3 losses, then the Slough Scorpions, Kings and Woking all on 4 losses.

The Winchester Kings next game is at home to the Slough Scorpions on Sunday 13 February at Kings school sports hall. Come along and support the Kings in this crucial game.

Scorers: Adey Rochester 21, Mike Sampson 17, Tom Smith 15, Adam Gillies 13, Sam James 9, David Senart 8, Jon Pickering 4, Stu Ralph 2, Rob Deyzel 2

Kings down Harriers

The Kings team work in the 4th quarter took them past a determined Woodley Harriers team in Woodley on Sunday night. - Quarter Scores - q1 Woodley 22-22 Kings, q2 35-41Kings, q3 47-58 Kings, Final 66-83 Kings

Scorers - Tom Smith 30, Mike Sampson 12, Dave Clarke 11, Adey Rochester 10, Stu Ralph 8, Jon Pickering 7, Mike Castle 4, David Senart 2 - Free Throws - 25/33!!! - 75.8% nice shooting!!!!!

The Force no match for Kings power

The Winchester Kings Big men dominated the Chiltern Force around the basket to ensure the Kings got back to their winning ways. The play of the game came from Mike Sampson, who, in the 3rd quarter, powered through the challenge of 2 Chiltern defenders, scoring and drawing the foul leaving the offending defensive player in a crumpled heap 2 meters from where the foul was committed.

The height and power mismatch was quickly identified by the Kings whose 26 first quarter points were all scored by Mike Sampson (6ft 6), Adey Rochester (6ft 7) and Dave Clarke (6ft 4). The 3 of them were too big and strong for the interior defence of the High Wycombe based team.

Leading 26-8 after the first quarter the Kings carried on going to their big men in the 2nd quarter building the lead up to 42-17 at half time.

With Keith Palmer, Chris Hall and Jon Pickering hitting 3 pointers in the 3rd quarter the Chiltern defence had to come out to challenge the shots. This lead to even more room inside for the big men to exploit which they did, picking up easy baskets and rebounds.

The Kings went into the 4th quarter with a commanding 71-33 lead ensuring the bench players could receive good minutes on court. The whole team kept up the intensity at both ends, slowing down the Chiltern offence as well as making sure everyone got on the score sheet on the offensive end. The score was Kings 97-50 Force.

Scorers – Mike Sampson 30, Adey Rochester 25, Dave Clarke 20, Keith Palmer 5, Jon Pickering 5, Chris Hall 3, Rich Styants 2, David Senart 2, Alan Delaney-Munn 2, Rob Deyzel 2, Matt Laxton 1. FREE THROWS 5/8.

Kings stung by Scorpions!

The Kings went to Slough and picked up their first loss in the league this season. At the end of 2 quarters the scores were 36-34 to Slough, then in the 3rd the Kings drew fouls but could not convert the free throws, hitting 1 of 10 from the line in the quarter. Whenever the Kings missed a shot in the second half Slough had an open man down the other end of the court. Slough eventually pulled away to an 85-60 win.

Scorers - Adey 22, Dave Clarke 16, Jon Pickering 13, Stu Ralph 7, Dean Carey 2. Team free throw total 7 out of 25 (second half 2/15).

Kings tame Cobras

The Winchester Kings went to Aztecia to take on the Cobras with just 7 fit players and a one legged old man.

The Kings were disjointed to start the game, not able to run at their opponents, and soon found themselves 3-2 down after 4 minutes of the game. Coach Pickering called a time out where he told everyone to give him the ball, this had the desired effect, for Jon, as he scored the next 7 Kings points to put the Kings up 9-5 in the 7th minute. At the end of the first the Kings held a 14-9 lead.

The Cobras managed to pull the score back to 14-16 at which stage the Kings switched their defence to a pressurising zone helping them pull away to a 20-32 half time lead.

A 16-4 run, which included 6 points a piece from 'Big' Dave Clarke and Dean 'Machine' Carey, to start the 3rd quarter was enough to effectively end the game as a contest. The Aztecs called a timeout to regroup but this didn't help as the Kings turned on the style, outrunning their ancient South American opponents, to end the 3rd 29-57 ahead.

The loudest cheer of the night came as Dave Senart scored a jump shot in the paint. This meant that all the Kings had got on the score sheet. The Kings eventually scraped the win by 41-70.

Scorers - Dave Clarke 15, Jon Pickering 14, Stu Ralph 12, Dean Carey 11, Rich Styants 9, Mike Castle 5, Matt Laxton 2, Dave Senart 2. FREE THROWS - 8/17.

Kings show no mercy to the Harriers

The Winchester Kings put the previously unbeaten Woodley Harriers to the sword at Kings school in their latest Wessex League division 3 outing.

Going into the game both teams were tied for top spot in the league table and the Kings expected a tough challenge from their experienced opponents. With the Harriers only having 5 players to start the game (2 more arrived at the end of the 1^st quarter), the Kings decided to use their youth and superior fitness, with the likes of Rich Styants and Keith Palmer out there, to pressure the Harriers all over the court, making them work a lot harder than they wanted to. Jon Pickering and Stu Ralph came up with steal after steal which lead to easy baskets for the Kings players. The Harriers were rushed into mistakes and ended the quarter 33-2 down to the Winchester team.

The whole Winchester team got on the court in the 2^nd period as the Kings continued their dominant display. Dean Carey showed he had lost nothing after his long lay off and Mike Castle came straight into the game hitting a big 3 pointer, then making a steal and sending big Mike Sampson through for a dunk. The Kings went into half time holding a 60-14 advantage.

The Kings took their foot off the gasl in the 3^rd quarter and in turn the Harriers started to grow in confidence. With the Harriers pulling back to 71-36, player coach Jon Pickering called a time out. This had the desired effect as the Kings went on an 18-3 run, that included 11 points from Stu Ralph, to open up an 89-39 lead 2 minutes into the 4^th quarter.

The Kings came within a Stu Ralph missed 3 point shot on the buzzer, of beating the club record for most points scored in a match. The final score was Winchester Kings 108-50 Woodley Harriers.

Scorers Stu Ralph 22, Adey Rochester 21, Jon Pickering 17, Mike Sampson 16, Dean Carey 15, Keith Palmer 8, Mike Castle 5, Rich Styants 4.

Winchester Kings win their first ever competitive game.

The Kings played their first ever competitive game in the Wessex Mens League Division 3 on Sunday hammering a team that just missed out on promotion last season.

The Kings were in control from the start with the Vipers unable to deal with Kings 2 6ft 6’ players inside and the speed of the Kings guards. The first quarter saw the Kings stamp their authority on the game, hustling the Vipers players defensively and forcing them into numerous errors. With 18 year old player coach Jon Pickering setting up other players for easy baskets the Kings pulled away to end the first quarter 26-11 up.

The Vipers could not stop the Kings scoring in the 2^nd quarter, Adey Rochester and Stu Ralph scored 16 of the Kings 23 points in the quarter to push the Kings lead out to 49-25 at half time.

The second half was more of the same. The Kings lead by as many as 40 during the final quarter, but eased up before the finish line letting the Vipers make the score line more respectable. Kings finally ran out 84-57 winners.

All 10 Kings players managed to get on the score sheet – Adey Rochester 17, Stu Ralph 16, Jon Pickering 11, Darren MacAskill 11, Mike Sampson 9, Dave Clarke 7, Mike Castle 4, Rich Styants 4, Matt Laxton 2, David Senart 2.

Winchester Kings crush Chiltern Force

The Winchester Kings continued their impressive start to their debut season with a crushing 103-52 victory away to the Chiltern Force to move to the top of the Wessex League division 3.

Winchester Basketball Clubs 3^rd team made a slow start to the match only leading 17-25 2 minutes into the second quarter. The Kings stepped up their pressure defence which resulted in a 22-0 run leading up to half time. This effectively ended the game as a contest as the Kings went in 17-47 up at the break.

The defensive intensity dropped in the second half, as the 7 Kings players began to tire, but they were still able to score at will with Tom Smith and Adey Rochester able to take advantage of the great passing from Keith Palmer, Jon Pickering, David Senart, Mike Castle and Stu Ralph.

All 7 Kings players got on the score sheet: Adey Rochester 34, Tom Smith 31, Stu Ralph 12, Jon Pickering 11, Keith Palmer 8, Mike Castle 6, David Senart 1.

Kings into Wessex Plate Semi Final

The Winchester Kings booked their place in the Wessex Plate Semi final overcoming the Whitley Wizards on Sunday at Kings School. The Kings dominated their higher division opponents at both ends of the court en-route to a 77-54 win and will now face this Sundays league visitors, the Yateley Silverbacks, in the Semi final.

The Kings used their height advantage in the first quarter, going inside regularly to big man Adey Rochester, who threw in 12 of the Kings 25 first quarter points. Whitleys athletic team found it difficult to penetrate to the basket against the Kings aggressive man to man defence and ended the quarter down 25-14.

Whitley were again forced to shoot long range jump shots by the Kings but could not connect. Tom Smith, who made several outstanding ‘and 1’ plays, was hammered on his jump shot, which he still made, and he hit the resulting free throw to take the Kings into a commanding 38-20 lead. The Kings ended the half leading 40-24.

Whitley started to try and pressure the Kings ball handlers more in the 3rd quarter, however the Kings guards were up for the task as Jon Pickering, Sam James and Stu Ralph beat the defence and set up the big men for easy inside baskets. The Kings stretch their lead against the second placed team in Wessex division 2 to 65-36 at the end of the 3rd quarter.

The Wizards had no answer to the Kings defence and found themselves 75-40 down with 5 minutes to play. With the game over the Kings intensity dropped and they allowed the Wizards to make the score respectable with a 14-2 run to end the game.

The Kings are currently 9 wins and 4 losses in Wessex division 3. As well as next weeks league match against Yateley, the Kings have a couple big games coming up against fellow promotion chasers, the Reading based Lithuanian team, BCLT United at Kings School on Sunday 3rd April and the Woking Blackhawk Strikers away on Sunday 10th April. 3 wins in their last 3 games would see them crowned league champions with a chance for silverware on 2 fronts in their first season.

Scorers: Adey Rochester 23, Tom Smith 17, Adam Gillies 10, Jon Pickering 8, Sam James 5, Stu Ralph 4, Rob Deyzel 4, Mike Sampson 4, David Senart 2 

Blackhawks downed!

The Winchester Kings secured promotion to division 2 of the Wessex League with a comprehensive 41-90 victory away to the, then table topping, Woking Blackhawks.

The Kings were struggling with injuries for the game, against the only team to have beaten them in Winchester this season. Only going with 8 players of which there were only 2 recognised guards in Sam James and Jon Pickering, who played through the pain of a torn quad, the Kings were expecting a real test from their high flying opponents.

The Kings started the game determined to avenge the loss they suffered at the hands of the Blackhawks earlier in the season. Adam Gillies worked hard to find space on the base line to score 12 of the Kings 23 first quarter points helping the Kings to a 13-23 lead after 1 quarter.

The Blackhawks fell further behind the 2nd quarter as the Kings man to man defence wore them down. Two 3 pointers to end the half bought the Blackhawks back to only trail 26-39 at the half.

The Kings switched their defence to start the second half to a pressurising 1-3-1 zone. Over the first 8 minutes of the 3rd quarter the Kings outscored Woking 22-4 en route to a 65-33 lead to end the 3rd quarter. Wokings frustration and ill discipline towards the officials also ended in one of their players receiving a technical foul.

The zone trap kept working to full effect in the 4th quarter as Woking kept on panicking and throwing the ball to Winchester or out of bounds. Mike Sampson had 8 steals, Rob Deyzel had his best game since moving to Winchester from the Ugandan National League with 13 points and some good defensive plays and David Senarts speed in the lane got him 4 steals and block.

Overall it was a great team performance from Winchester with all the players giving their all and getting on the score sheet.

Next Sunday the Kings travel to Yateley for the semi final of the Wessex plate. They also have 1 more league match this season at home to BCLT United. 3 more wins will see them claim the league title and the Wessex plate in their first season together.

Scorers – Adam Gillies 25, Tom Smith 19, Rob Deyzel 13, Mike Sampson 11, Adey Rochester 9, Jon Pickering 9, David Senart 2, Sam James 2

The Weasels were a mixed team that played one season in the Wessex League division 3. The team comprised of Diamonds and Winchester City players and played against mens teams. The finished with a respectable 8 Win 6 Loss season.

Weasels player stats 2008/09

Southsiders

Used to be part of the Winchester City Club set up, they are currently playing out of Bittern Park School - Contact Chris Hall - new web site address to come!!!