Founders Cup Information
2009/10 Game Reports | | Founders Cup results & table |
Winchester City 66-86 Oxford Braves City were again without several players for this game. Poor shooting throughout the game by Winchester and a good disciplined Oxford offence saw the Braves defeat Winchester City in this crucial Founders Cup match up. City had a poor start, but then picked up to tie the scores at 19-19 to end the 1st quarter. However the 2nd quarter proved their downfall as they struggled to find any offence when the Braves changed their defence and went in 27-38 at the half. City pulled the score back to within 3 in the 3rd, but couldn't push on, letting the Braves pull away again. The 3rd quarter ended with Winchester trailing 44-53. Winchesters 7 players ran out of steam in the final quarter causing their defence to suffer and were outscored 22-33. Scorers: Alan McDonald 25, Ian Hannah 19, Dave Clarke 8, Yaz El-Hakim 7, Dave Sharpen 5, Darren MacAskill 2. Basic play wins the dayWinchester City were down 37-29 at the half and, basically, struggling to find any consistent offence. Then the Swindon Veteran player coach, John Brind, gave a better pep talk than the Winchester Coach could have by shouting across the court to his own team ‘we are making a basic team look good’. Which resulted in a great come back and 70-77 win for Winchester City. Winchester basically found it difficult to penetrate the Swindon defence in the first half. With sharp shooter Alan McDonald picking up 3 fouls 8 minutes into the first quarter they had to rely on Yaz El-Hakim and Ian Hannah picking up scrappy points inside, Dave Clarke putting up 3s from the outside and Olly Good making some basic defensive stops. After the half time tirade from the Swindon player coach, Winchester City came out with renewed basic vigour and during a 2 minute spell, half way through the quarter, hit 5 three point shots (4 from McDonald) which took Winchester from 36-44 down to 51-50 in front. Winchester extended the lead to 53-51 at the end of the 3rd Quarter and basically looked quite good for it. The lead changed hands on 6 occasions during the first 6 minutes of the final quarter. Then, while leading 65-61 Swindons top scorer Kmita picked up his fourth foul, which was quickly followed by some basic indiscipline by the same player which lead to 2 technical fouls. McDonald basically walked to the foul line and hit 3 of 4 free throws followed by a massive 3 pointer over a desperate basic Swindon defender. McDonald then drew a charging foul from John ‘Basic’ Brind and while on the floor remarked on how he had used some basic foot movement to get in position to draw the foul. Ian Hannah and McDonald hit further three pointers to extend Winchesters lead to 73-70 before Alan McDonald picked up his 5th foul, with 51 seconds left, and had to leave the game. With El-Hakim fouling out earlier, Winchester City, were down to a basic 4.5 players as they had to bring on there own veteran player coach. It was Dave Sharpen that finished the game off by hitting 2 free throws and finishing a play after Styants, using his knowledge of basic defence, stole Swindons inbounds pass. This win gives Winchester City a great chance of progressing to the knock out stages of this seasons founders cup. They are currently on 2 wins and 2 losses with home games on the 4 and 7 February against the Oxford Braves and Oxford Devils. Basically 1 win from those 2 games and Winchester will progress to the last 16, 2 wins and we get a better draw in the next round basically. Winchester Scorers: McDonald 35, Hannah 16, El-Hakim 9, Sharpen 8, Clarke 7, Good 2. Oxford Devils 88-51 WinchesterIt was the first time the Oxford Devils had managed to get their full team together in this years founders cup and they showed how good they are by giving Winchester City a lesson in how to find the open shot and finish on Saturday. Winchester found the Oxford big men difficult to deal with inside and the guards seemed to hit all their outside shots. Many of the Oxford Devils team remain from their old National League division 1 team and their class showed. Winchester kept fighting though and managed to outscore Oxford 8-2 at the end of the game. Unfortunately the damage had been done earlier as Winchester trailed 28-13 after 1, then 47-23 at the half. Oxford didn't let up in the 3rd either as they managed to stretch the lead to 69-37. Despite the late rally Winchester were well and truly beaten 88-51. Scorers were Alan McDonald 10, Dave Clarke 8, Ian Hannah 7, Yaz El-Hakim 7, Dave Sharpen 6, Darren MacAskill 5, Ollie Good 5, Jon Pickering 3. Winchester 51-69 SwindonWinchester City, with just 7 players again, went down 51-69 at home to the Swindon Cavaliers. Winchester never really got their offence going during the match and a disjointed, tired last quarter perfomance saw them lose the game by more than they deserved to losing the quarter 22-10. Both teams played very physical defence throughout. Scorers Ian Hannah 13, Isaac Paddington 10, Darren MacAskill 10, Alan McDonald 7, Olly Good 5, Jon Pickering 4, Dave Sharpen 2. Winchester 7 Win in OxfordWinchester City Basketball Club started this seasons National Founders Cup with an Impressive 69-56 away win against a well drilled and well organised Oxford Braves team. A fantastic start to this years campaign especially as only 7 players were available to make the trip for the Winchester team. The difference in the two teams was apparent from the first quarter, where Winchester's superior finishing in and around the basket meant they went in at the end of the first quarter with a 9 point lead. For the whole game the Braves played an intense full court man to man defence, which through some brilliant ball handling from Alan McDonald and Isaac Paddington and strong inside play by Olli Good played into Winchester's hands as they were able to get right into the basket and make high percentage shots. Some outstanding defensive plays in the second half, especially by Jon Pickering and Dave Sharpen, ensured the Oxford Braves couldn't mount a comeback and with some good finishing from the whole team, especially Ian Hannah who had a team high 16 points. Led to the Winchester city side coming back down the A34 with a convincing 13 point victory. Winchester City's next venture into the Founders cup is a home game at Kings School, Winchester against Swindon Cavaliers on 9th December. Winchester Scorers: Ian Hannah 16, Darren MacAskill 14, Alan McDonald 14, Olli Good 10, Isaac Paddington 7, Dave Sharpen 6 and Jon Pickering 2 | | 2009/10 Draft Fixtures 24 October 2009 Swindon 78-66 Oxford Braves 7 November 2009 Swindon 70-66 Oxford Brookes 8 November 2009 Oxford Braves 56-69 Winchester City 21 November 2009 Oxford Brookes 78-57 Oxford Braves 6 December 2009 Winchester City 51-69 Swindon 12 December 2009 Oxford Brookes 88-51 Winchester City 16 January 2010 Oxford Brookes 89-43 Swindon 10 January 2010 Oxford Braves 91-58 Swindon 23 January 2010 Swindon 70-77 Winchester City 24 January 2010 Oxford Braves 60-68 Oxford Brookes 4 February 2009 Winchester City 66-86 Oxford Braves 7 February 2010 Winchester City 0-20 Oxford Brookes | Team | Won | Lost | For | Agn | Pts | | Oxford Devils | 5 | 1 | 409 | 281 | 10 | | Swindon Cavs | 3 | 3 | 388 | 440 | 6 | | Oxford Braves | 2 | 4 | 416 | 417 | 4 | | Winchester | 2 | 4 | 314 | 389 | 4 |
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2008/09 Season Game ReportsWinchester v Kingston
Despite already qualifying from the Founders Cup South group Kingston still brought a team full of former national league talent to Kings school to play Winchester City.
Winchester fielded their strongest team this season. However it was Kingston that came out of the blocks the quickest with, Former Guilford player, Roger Lloyd scoring their first 7 points to open up a 7-2 lead inside 2 minutes.
Jeff Sponagle, scored 7 points and had several assists in the next 6 minutes to spark Winchester into life helping them on a 17-6 run and forcing the Founders Cup favourites to call a time out down 19-13 with 2 minutes remaining in the 1st quarter.
Kingston regrouped after the time out with Plunkett & Bottiglia hitting crucial 3 point shots helping Kingston to a 29-24 lead at the end of the 1st quarter.
Kingston established an 8 point lead with 2 minutes remaining in the second quarter. Pascal Matthias then hit a 3 pointer and made a strong inside move, before 2 more baskets by Jon Neale put Winchester in front going into half time at 46-45.
Kingston switched from a man to man defence to a zone in the second half and this slowed down Winchesters offence who only managed an Ian Hannah 3 pointer in the first 4 minutes of the half as they took time to adjust. Winchester called a time out down 56-49. Winchester then started to attack the Kingston zone and baskets from Neale, MacAskill and Squires put Winchester back in front. The quarter ended with Kingston regaining the lead at 67-65.
Winchester struggled offensively early in the 4th quarter at the same time they gave away cheap baskets at the other end and Kingston were able to open up a 71-81 lead half way through the final quarter. Following a time out Winchester switched to a zone defence, which proved to be a disastrous decision as Kingston’s 3 point shooters took full advantage hitting 4 3 point shots in a 2 minute spell, which opened up an unassailable lead. Kingston finally came through to win 97-80.
Richard Styants, the Winchester Coach said after the game ‘I’m immensely pleased with the effort the team showed today. Entering the National Founders Cup was always going to be a tough challenge for a young club like Winchester, but we were able to prove against Richmond, Twickenham and Kingston that we can compete against this level of competition. We will be looking to make the knock out stages next seasons’.
Winchester Scorers Jon Neale 25, Thom Parker 17, Jeff Sponagle 9, Ian Hannah 7, Grant Smith 6, Pascal Matthias 5, Ryan Squires 4, Darren MacAskill 4, Dave Sharpen 3, Scott McMillan 0.
Twickenham v Winchester
Winchesters first struggle was to get a team together. Due to work commitments and illness in the team Winchester travelled with just 5 players and a coach who had to lace up his boots again.
Seeing Winchesters lack of a bench or recognised point guard, Twickenham used a full court man to man defence from the outset, which Winchester struggled to break.
Winchester started the 1st quarter well with former Solent Stars Thom Parker and Jon Neale combining for their first 7 points leading to a Twickenham time out with Winchester leading 7-4. Twickenham regrouped during the time out and outscored Winchester 17-4 to finish the 1st quarter up 21-11.
Struggling with the defensive pressure being applied, Winchester found themselves 34-17 down 4 minutes into the 3rd quarter. Then coach Styants long range 3 pointer sparked a mini run by Winchester, which was halted by another Santos 3 pointer and strong inside move from Twickenham big man Handou drawing a 4th foul from Parker. With Parker having to be benched for the remainder of the half, Twickenham moved away to lead 54-29 at the half.
Despite the fatigue setting in, Winchester came out for the second half determined to show their fighting spirit. Thanks to some great guard play from Dave Sharpen and the finishing of Jon Neale and Ian Hannah Winchester went on a 17-4 run to start the 3rd. Styants was then caught with a high knee while drawing a charging foul, leaving just 5 players to finish off the quarter in which Twickenham pulled away again to lead 72-53.
With Sharpen able to beat his defender at will and pass to Pascal Matthias, Neale and Parker to finish the play Winchester made a fight of it in the 4th quarter. However the lack of substitutes told on the defensive end, as Winchester struggled to get out to the Twickenham shooters. Winchester finally went down 97-84.
Winchester Scorers – Neale 35, Hannah 17, Parker 15, Matthias 12, Styants 3, Sharpen 2.
Winchester Paid for a sluggish first half display where they were outscored and out hussled to drop 19-37 behind at the break. In the Second half Winchester were much better playing tough defence fronting the Richmond big men and causing turnovers. However they were never able to reduce the gap to single figures eventually going down by 19 points.
Winchester run out of steam
Winchester took a skeleton team to play probably the best non league team in the country, Kingston. Winchester started brightly enough, working hard on defence to control the inside threat of 7-1 James Cook and former Guildford forward Roger Lloyd. When the Guards did double team this lead to open 3 point shots by the Kingston Guards, who hit 17 3's in total, 11 by their number 9 Plunkett. Winchester trailed 54-34 at the half, but had been playing better than the score suggested.
Kingston came out aggressively at the start of the 3rd quarter playing a full court trapping defence. This lead to several turnover leading to Kingston dunks and layups. A time out was called by Winchester 2 minutes into the quarter with Winchester trailing 66-35. By the end of the 3rd Winchester were down 83-46, but were visibly tiring.
The 4th quarter was a struggle with Kingston again using the full man to man defence forcing turn overs. When Winchester did score and force Kingston into a half court offence Plunkett inevitably ended up with a 3 point shot which he made even when the shot was being challenged. Plunkett scored 23 of Kingstons 40 points in the quarter to extend Kingstons Winning Margin to 123-62. At least we achieved one goal of not getting our score doubled!
Winchester Scorers: Jon Neale 17, Grant Smith 13, Dave Sharpen 13, Pascal Matthias 11, Ben Cox 6, Scott McMillan 1, Rich Styants 1
SOUTHSIDERS HAVE PULLED OUT OF THE FOUNDERS CUP.
3 tough losses for Winchester teams
Winchester City lost at home to Twickenham on Thursday 30 October. Twickenham played a full court press from the 2nd quarter and Winchester City struggled to break it making poor decision on several key possessions in front of nearly hundreds of screaming fans from the Winchester University womens team.
Winchesters inability at the free throw line cost them dearly in this match, especially in the 3rd quarter where they got their opponents into foul trouble early but did not make them pay hitting only 4/19 from the free throw line and 15/36 in total.
Winchester were in a situation they are getting used to in this competition of being outsized by their opponents. This did not effect them in the first 3 quarters though as they held their opponents 53-53 going into the final period. However Twickenhams speed in the full court defence paid dividends in the final period as they steadily moved away from Winchester for a big win 70-81, that moves them to second in the group and drops Winchester to 4th, with Kingston to come next.
Winchester Scorers: G Smith 17, I Hannah 14, Jeff Sponagle 11, T Attwood 8, Y El-Hakim 6, C Sharland 5, S McMillan 3, D MacAskill 3, P Matthias 2, T White 1.
The Southsiders were well beaten in there latest 2 games. Missing the all round court play of Ben Radford in both games the Southsiders didn't put up much resisdence going down 52-93 to Richmond and 50-109 against the powerful Kingston team. Kingston dominated inside with the 7footer James Cook and hit on a lot of outside shots including 11 3s from Plunkett.
Southsiders top scorers vs Richmond: D Mead 17, Hood 10
Vs Kingston: D Mead 12, Lewis 11, Hood 10
Winchester City come up short against the Jaguars
Winchester City Basketball team almost pulled off a massive upset in the National Founders Cup away to the Richmond Jaguars who are the Middlesex Premier Division Champions.
Richmond had a huge size advantage at each position and this seemed to intimidate Winchester as they trailed 13-4 are 5 minutes of the first quarter. A time out called by Coach Styants steadied the nerves and Winchester were able to fight back to end the first quarter 15-11 down.
The second quarter saw the Winchester team up their defence, surrounding the big post players of Richmond when they caught the ball and pressuring every pass forcing turnovers that lead to fast breaks. Great defence from Jeff Sponagle drew a charging foul from Lake and from the resulting possession Winchester were able to take their first lead in the match at 24-23. With the 6’5 Jon Neale able to out rebound the whole 6’7+ Richmond front line Winchester held onto the lead and went in 33-31 up at half time.
The 3rd quarter was a scrappy affair as none of the Winchester players were able to find there shooting range while Lake hit 3 3 point shots at the other end to give Richmond a 48-44 lead going into the final quarter.
Richmond extended their lead to 9 points in the first 2 minutes of the 4th before Winchesters defence kicked in again with Dean Carey, Pascal Matthais, Yaz El-Hakim, Scott McMillan and Grant Smith all coming up with big rebounds and steals. A third charging foul forced by Jeff Sponagle and a second Darren MacAskill 3 pointer pulled Winchester to 59-61 down with less than a minute on the clock. Missed shots and strange refereeing decisions then followed at both ends of the court before A Karin made 1 out of 2 from the line to give Richmond a 62-59 advantage with 5 seconds remaining. Winchester got the ball up the court but MacAskill’s 3 point attempt rimmed out to drop Winchester to 1 win and 1 defeat in the group stages, with 6 to play.
Winchester Scorers J Neale 14, D MacAskill 12, Y El-Hakim 10, G Smith 8, J Sponagle 8, D Carey 4, P Matthais 3
Winchester City 72-71 Southsiders
By Louis Paddington
Winchester City got off to an exciting start in the England Basketball National Founders Cup, with a thrilling 72-71 overtime victory against Winchester Southsiders.
City began the game well behind Grant Smith and Jon Neale and took a 30-35 lead at half-time. The duo worked well throughout the game, Smith contributing 27 points and Neale 20. However Southsiders gained the momentum in the third quarter with Dave Mead controlling the tempo, leading to a frantic final portion of the game.
With Southsiders holding a two point advantage and possession nearing the end of the fourth quarter, Winchester City looked to be heading towards defeat until Jeff Sponagle forced a turnover. Racing to the other end Sponagle made the basket and drew a foul, tying the score at 63 with just 6 seconds remaining. However, Sponagle was unable to connect from the line, sending the game into overtime.
With Mead fouling out with 19 points late in the fourth quarter, Ben Radford looked to pull his team through. Finishing with a team high 24 points, Radford's three-pointer late in overtime put his team in front 71-70. Southsiders were the architects of their own downfall on the next possession, receiving a technical foul, as Neale made one of two free throws to tie the game. With Radford unable to connect on a jump shot, City had one last opportunity. Unsuccessful, the game looked to be heading to a second overtime until Southsiders picked up another technical with just one second on the clock. Ian Hannah stepped up to the line, and despite missing the first, he kept his nerve to sink the second, sealing a spectacular win.
The National Founders Cup is run as a competition for teams outside the England Basketball League. It includes 36 teams split into 8 divisions, with the top two teams from each division progressing to the knockout phase. Alongside the two Winchester teams in the South division are last season’s runners-up Kingston Wildcats, the Richmond Jaguars and Twickenham Tigers. Next up for Winchester City are the Jaguars in Richmond, who suffered a 104-67 setback against Kingston on Saturday. The competition has run since 1951, and was won by the recently defunct Solent Stars in 1991.
2008/09 Founders Cup Results
Founders Cup South Group
Kingston 104-67 Richmond
Richmond 62-59 Winchester City
Twickenham 71-115 Kingston
Winchester City 70-81 Twickenham
Richmond 67-56 Twickenham
Kingston 123-62 Winchester
Winchester 53-72 Richmond
Kingston 85-66 Twickenham
Richmond 67-83 Kingston
Twickenham 97-84 Winchester
Winchester 80-97 Kingston
Twickenham 75-76 Richmond
For more information see http://www.englandbasketball.com/
Founders Cup All time scorers
| Name | Games Played | Points scored | Average Score | top score |
| Ian Hannah | 12 | 133 | 11.1 | 19 |
| Jon Neale | 6 | 128 | 21.3 | 35 |
| Alan McDonald | 7 | 108 | 15.4 | 35 |
| Grant Smith | 6 | 78 | 13.0 | 27 |
| Darren MacAskill | 9 | 70 | 7.8 | 14 |
| Dave Sharpen | 11 | 54 | 4.9 | 13 |
| Yaz El-Hakim | 6 | 47 | 7.8 | 10 |
| Pascal Matthais | 8 | 44 | 5.5 | 12 |
| Jeff Sponagle | 5 | 42 | 8.4 | 12 |
| Isaac Paddington | 4 | 37 | 9.3 | 11 |
| Adam Gillies | 2 | 34 | 17.0 | 19 |
| Thom Parker | 2 | 32 | 16.0 | 17 |
| Big O | 6 | 29 | 4.8 | 8 |
| Jon Pickering | 6 | 26 | 4.3 | 12 |
| Rich Mann | 1 | 24 | 24.0 | 24 |
| Dave Clarke | 3 | 23 | 7.7 | 8 |
| Ryan Squire | 3 | 21 | 7.0 | 13 |
| Thom Parker | 2 | 19 | 9.5 | 11 |
| Thom Attwood | 3 | 17 | 5.7 | 8 |
| Steve Vaughan | 3 | 12 | 4.0 | 5 |
| Toby White | 3 | 8 | 2.7 | 7 |
| Ben Cox | 1 | 6 | 6.0 | 6 |
| Chris Hall | 1 | 6 | 6.0 | 6 |
| John Salmon | 1 | 6 | 6.0 | 6 |
| Dean Carey | 2 | 6 | 3.0 | 4 |
| Scott McMillan | 6 | 6 | 1.0 | 3 |
| Craig Sharland | 1 | 5 | 5.0 | 5 |
| Rich Styants | 3 | 4 | 1.3 | 3 |
| John Jones | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 |
| David Senart | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 |
Kingston Win the Founders Cup
Wildcats’ captain Steve Rich was awarded the game MVP after scoring a team high 19 points and handing out 5 assists in the win.
Kingston were the stronger side from tip, with Mark Bottiglia scoring their first 14 points (including four consecutive three-point shots) as they finished the quarter up 21-18. Ironwolf’s Artur Jakiel opened the second with 5 points, but the Wildcats kept pace and took a 39-27 halftime lead.
King’s Lynn managed to cut the lead to five with a minute left in the third, winning the quarter 19-15, but still trailed 54-46 heading into the final period. Rich, however, scored eight in the final ten minute sealing the win.
Tomas Liberis was the game’s high scorer with 21 points while his teammate Donaldas Gustas finished with a double-double of 13 points and 16 rebounds. Rich was among five Wildcats in double figures with a notable performance from Roger Lloyd who had 11 points and 13 boards.
Box scores - http://www.fibalivestats.com/matches/123/00/62/02/21HcNubOn6o/
Kingston Wildcats 77
King’s Lynn Ironwolf 65
MVP – Steve Rich (19 Points, 5 Steals, 3 Assists, 3 Rebounds)
