WILDCATS WIN BY ONE

The following day they treated their home fans to a thrilling game at Newton Aycliffe. Struggling to get going in the first half, after the long journey home, Durham finally slipped into gear in the third quarter, against old rivals Westminster, and held on at the end to snatch victory by a single point.

Durham Wildcats                   (15, 34, 71) 82
Westminster Warriors         (23, 49, 70) 81
The following day’s game, at home to Westminster Warriors, followed a very similar pattern, with the difference that the calibre of the opponents made it much more difficult to secure a successful second-half recovery. In the end it was a basket just 1½ seconds from the final buzzer that extended the champions’ winning run to fourteen games since New Year.
The Wildcats had only beaten Westminster once (though that was in the Patron’s Cup Final), and it was clear that the Warriors had no intention of allowing that statistic to change, as they exploded out of the blocks to establish an early 10-17 lead, with Yannick Bulambwe posing big questions of the home defence as he plundered 11 points from close to the basket.
The visitors’ defence was also causing uncertainty in Durham’s attack, and at the first break only three Wildcats’ players (Paul Elderkin, Stephen Jones and Michael Davies [pictured left on defence]) had recorded scores, as they trailed by eight.
A 6-2 start to the second quarter, including a trademark Paul Elderkin “dunk”, raised expectations of a rapid recovery by the home side, but Westminster are made of sterner stuff, and their scoring options appeared wider, as Henry Wilkins and Warren Adams contributed the next eight points to give them a 21-33 lead.
Two baskets from Notis Chalkidis, and a pair of “3”s from Paul Elderkin closed the gap again, to 31-35, but the Wildcats were trying to force the pace, and only succeeded in finding the basket once, with a “trey” from Tolis Apostolidis, in the next four minutes, as the Warriors established their biggest lead of the game at 15.
Both teams knew that the restart would be crucial to their prospects, and at last the Wildcats slipped into gear, playing strong defence and measured attack.
Scott Morton opened the scoring, with his first points of the game, followed that with a “3”, and Paul Elderkin added a deuce as they cut the margin to eight, and another Morton “trey” made it 44-51.
Westminster’s player/coach Junior Williams rallied his team, with their next seven points, as they held the gap steady, despite two more “3”s from Elderkin and another from Morton, and with four minutes to the interval the Warriors still led 57-65.
Raising the intensity further, five points from Elderkin and two from Morton hauled Durham right back into contention, before captain Mark Elderkin gave them their first lead of the game, with two coolly taken free-throws 1 minute 20 seconds from the break.
Jon Johnson put the visitors back ahead, but two from the stripe and a “3” from Morton (taking his tally for the quarter to 18) gave the Wildcats a four-point breathing space – only for Luke Baker to hit a “3” on the buzzer and set up a nail-biting final stanza.
Defences were in the ascendancy on the restart, with only three baskets in the first four minutes, but all came from Durham, as Morton, Stephen Jones and Chalkidis [pictured right] gave them a seven point cushion.
The next five minutes, however, belonged to the visitors, as the Wildcats’ offence dried up, and when Henry Wilkins was fouled in the act of scoring he sank the bonus shot to complete an 0-9 run that put Westminster ahead again, by one, with just over a minute to play.
An immediate response was required, and it came from Paul Elderkin, who coolly sank his eighth 3-pointer of the game, for his only score in the quarter, to put the Wildcats ahead again by one.
The visitors, too, remained calm, and Diamen Harris switched the advantage with a basket which left little time for a response. Despite the intense pressure, Scott Morton kept his concentration, and drove to the basket to roll the ball home with a mere 1½ seconds on the clock.
As the crowd rose to applaud the apparent victory, Westminster called a Time Out, which not only gave them the chance to set up a final play, but also moved the inbounds ball from the endline to mid-court.
As the ball came in, however, the tenacious Wildcats’ defence managed to get a fingertip to it to deflect it out again, leaving just half a second still to play, and that proved enough for them to prevent a score, and protect their unbeaten record in 2010.