Chorlton Jedi. I'm not sure...

Early on in the season, we joined YMCA, Cardinal Langley and Chorlton by making a good start. They always seemed to have a game or two in hand, but were racking up the wins. We met YMCA and Cardinal Langley within a space of a fortnight and both were tough games, going right down to the final quarter. I always thought from one or two games in that the Chorlton game would be similar..

Being two starters down, each and every one of us would have to give it a bit more when the Jedi's paid a visit this week. The familiar backcourt of Adam Smith and James Burns took to the floor for us, joined by Anthony Barrand, Ian Brown and Adrian Willey.

Chorlton's outside game was going on in the first as their entire five got in on the story. Jedi had three very capable ball handlers at the one, two and three spots and each of them shot, passed and moved really well. They were happy to sit in a 2-1-2 zone for the whole game, which usually suits us to the ground, but our long range game was misfiring and we forced up the wrong option on our fast breaks too often.

Though we traded baskets for the most part, Jedi pulled away on more than one occasion, leaving us to pick away at the deficit as best as we could. Anthony Barrand again was huge on the glass for us. As much as we pushed the ball, it was ultimately our half court game that got us the points that we needed.

Going into the third, Chorlton began extending their lead and got it to as many as 15, though Ian Brown's back to back 3-pointers made the gap closer as we switched defensively into a zone. Birthday boy James Burns put on his most aggressive display of the season. Burns got inside the Chorlton zone, making the most of his "and 1" plays and dropping a twenty-five footer as the buzzer sounded for the end of the third.

Now.. the fourth quarter was where it all happened. After losing their guard in the 2nd quarter with (what appeared to be) and ankle injury, Jedi had a player T'd after three warnings for whistling on court. He was later disqualified for lashing out after a defensive play that seemed kinda trivial. Unfortunately for Chorlton, they just seemed to dry up in the final minutes. Although we stepped our defensive intensity up and our zone was a tad more effective, the shots that Chorlton has made all game were now coming up short.

Free throws from Barrand and Burns put us up by three in the final seconds and an obvious foul by Jedi to stop the clock went uncalled, leading to a Burns layup just before the buzzer sounded.

We needed this win on so many levels. Although we know our team play is looking 100% better than last season, its when we're short handed that we need to prove to ourselves that any one of us is capable of stepping up and contributing that little bit extra. The win is nice.