U18 Arrows beat rivals to set up top of the table clash

Derbyshire Arrows 78 Rotherham Hawks 58

The Derbyshire Arrows U18s beat Rotherham for a 4th time this calender year with a 78-58 point victory at KSC. This fixture had been played out 3 times already in the preseason with the Arrows being victorious in all of them.

The Arrows first quarter was one of a stop start, with captain Rory Wheatcroft getting the ball rolling with the first 8 points for the Arrows inside 4 minutes. Rotherham stuck around the game in the early stages and a 10 point contribution from Hawks guard Simon Woodhouse made the game tilt towards the Hawks. Jack Ellis contributed late on in the quarter with a pair of buckets but could not prevent Rotherham leading after the 1st quarter 20-19.

The second quarter started evenly as Will Hopper joined the scorers along with a Nelson Mario 3 pointer. But the Arrows defence is something the Hawks have troubled with so far this year, as an 11-2 run in the last 6 minutes of the half was something they had no answer for. More points for Mario, Hopper and a bucket from Matt Oakey gave the half time scoreline at 35-28.

Coach Allan Oakey talked at half time about "the we and not the me", and this seemed to do the trick as the Arrows refocused their efforts defensively and offensively as the Arrows tried to dominate the quarter. Rory Wheatcroft showed his dominance again with 9 points in the quarter, as well as a pair of baskets for Nick Holt. The Arrows defence again limited to Rotherham to low figures for the quarter which gave the Arrows a comfortable 17 point lead at 57-40.

The Final quarter was more equal as Hawks guard Suttle heated up a little helping their scoring, but a pair of baskets for Mitch Dennison, Hopper and a basket for Callum Newsham saw the Arrows home comfortably 78-58 winners.

Arrows Scorers; Wheatcroft 20, Mario 15, Ellis 14, Hopper 9, Oakey 8, Dennison 6, Holt 4, Newsham 2

The Arrows U18s will play a top of the table clash with Doncaster Eagles next weekend away from home. This is looking like a fascinating contest between the two neighbours as the both teams are on a 4 match unbeaten run.