WILDCATS PUT LEEDS OUT OF CUP

Durham Wildcats built on the early season success, which has seen them qualify for the semi-final of the Patron’s Cup, with a magnificent performance on Sunday afternoon to dump their first division visitors out of the National Cup.
Sunday 18th October.    National Cup Second Round.
Durham Wildcats       (20, 32, 52) 77
Leeds Carnegie        (  8, 33, 49) 68
The Wildcats showed no signs of being overawed by the status and reputation of their guests as they made a storming start to the game. Two 3-pointers in as many minutes from captain Mark Elderkin put the home side 6-4 ahead, and their impressive defence helped set up runs of nine and eight unanswered points as they roared into a 13 point lead.
Leeds’ only score in the second five minutes of the game was a single free-throw just before the break, as they found themselves in the unaccustomed position of being held to single figures in the quarter. Durham enjoyed an unexpected 12 point advantage at the first interval.
It was a very different matter, though, in the second period, as Leeds showed the qualities that have propelled them into England Basketball’s elite.
Istvan Herczeg opened the fightback with a “3”, and baskets from Gyorgy Polya and Mike Medved hauled them back to 20-15.
Their defensive pressure disrupted the Wildcats’ rhythm, while the impressive Ladi Brown, together with the big pairing of Herczeg and Medved, found the basket with worrying frequency. Stephen Jones scored the only two Durham points of the first five minutes, and World Student Games winner Notis Chalkidis added the Wildcats’ next four, but the visitors moved 26-29 ahead.
The home side rediscovered their composure in the closing minutes of the half, with Paul Elderkin adding all six points, but it was Carnegie who took a slender one-point advantage into the locker room.
Traditionally this would be the point at which a higher division team, having weathered the early onslaught, would expect to stamp their authority on the game.
Durham recognised the danger, and came out with even greater intensity after the break. With points at a premium on the restart, Stephen Jones and Mark Elderkin edged the Wildcats ahead 36-33. Polya levelled the scores, with his second “trey” of the game, but Scott Morton, who had an enormous game at both ends of the court, hit two pairs of free throws for a 40-36 lead.
By this time Brown had picked up his third and fourth fouls in quick succession, and Leeds had to rest one of their most intense and influential players. Still the visitors pulled level again at 49-all, as Zoltan Supola took over their scoring mantle, but a “3” from Tolis Apostolidis ensured that the Wildcats took a lead into the last quarter.
Supola added seven more as Carnegie responded with an eight-point blitz in the first two minutes of the final stanza, and things began to look bleak for the hosts. Those proved to be the Leeds’ guard’s last points of the game, however, as the Wildcats intensified their defensive pressure.
Morton was continuing to torment Carnegie, with his positional sense and speed of movement, and he drained three of four from the line, to add to one from the stripe by Jones and Mark Elderkin’s third “trey” of the afternoon, as once again they bounced back to level at 59.
Paul Elderkin also struck from beyond the arc, at the mid-point of the quarter, nose the Wildcats back in front, 62-61, which set up a final five minutes which was gritty rather than pretty. The division two side more than matched their visitors’ determination, and a massive Paul Elderkin “dunk” finished off a fast break which sparked a 6-0 run on the way to a 72-67 lead going into the final minute – and this despite the team spurning four more attempts from the line.
The game now rested on who could retain their composure in the clutch, and the Wildcats were magnificent. Leeds, chasing the game, were forced to foul to stop the clock, resulting in free-throws for Durham.
Continued woeful shooting from the line brought just three points from eight attempts, but the hosts’ determination was such that they either rebounded the ball or stole it from their opponents, on each occasion. The result was that, though the Durham score only inched upwards, Leeds were given no opportunity to capitalise, and at 75-67 the game was out of the visitors’ reach.
Leeds did manage 1 of 2 from the line in the dying seconds, but once again the Wildcats rebounded the missed shot, and the impressive Morton iced the victory from the stripe as he took his tally for the second half 19 points.
“In the past this is the sort of game in which we’d have choked at the end” commented Stephen Jones, who works as Durham University’s Basketball Development Officer, “but this year’s team is up to the challenge”.
Captain Mark Elderkin added, “To be honest we didn’t play anywhere near our best, but the key was that we had the determination to see it through.”
“There just wasn’t a single one of us out there who ever thought that we were going to lose” added Michael Davies, whose work on the boards, and in defence, had made a significant contribution to the Wildcats’ victory.
Wildcats’ Scorers: Scott Morton 22; Paul Elderkin 17; Mark Elderkin 13; Michael Davis 8; Notis Chalkidis 6; Stephen Jones 5; Tolis Apostolidis 3; Anthony Trigg; Rafa Vilar-Franca.
Leeds’ leading Scorers: Zoltan Supola 17; Ladi Brown 12; Mike Medved11; Istvan Herczeg 10.