Team Solent Kestrels bounced back from last weekends disappointment in style this Saturday evening as they dispatched Worthing Thunder on their home floor, 115-94. The victory sees Kestrels take the tie breaker for second place in the South 1 pool of the Kit King trophy, securing a spot in the quarter finals next weekend.
Isa Brandon was back to his normal scoring self as he poured in 24 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists whilst Andre Arissol added 18 points, 12 assists and 7 rebounds against his former team. Kestrels frontline duo of Ash Briggs and Wayne Kitenge also added 15 points a piece as they tallied double doubles as well. Perhaps the best stat of the evening though was 28 assists on 44 made field goals for TSK, a huge improvement on last weekends showing.
There was not a great deal to separate the two sides in the opening quarter as Kestrels starting group spread the scoring load whilst Bode Adeluola scored 15 of Worthing’s 22 first quarter points. TSK briefly pushed the lead to 6 at 16-10 before the hosts rallied to close the quarter trimming the arrears to just 2 points, 24-22 Kestrels.
Thunder got up by 2 early in the second period behind free scoring Adeluola, but that was erased quickly by Andre Arissol and Jake Kinder off the bench. Kestrels outside threat continue through Kinder and Joe Lloyd as they would extend the advantage to 7 at 47-40. The gap reached 11 points however much like the first quarter, the home side rallied to close the half, Kestrels 51-44 to the good at the break.
Kestrels came storming out of the blocks in 2nd half with an 11-0 run capped off by a Greg Durand triple, which gave his side their largest lead of the game at 18. The sides traded baskets for a long spell before an 8-2 scoring run pushed the score out to 75-52. TSK taking an 81-61 lead into the final ten minutes.
The West Sussex outfit cut the deficit to 16 early in the fourth but timely scores from Ash Briggs and Matt Hughes restored the TSK lead. Greg Durand extended the visitors lead back beyond the 20 points mark as he connected on his second triple of the evening and both Andre Arissol and Isa Brandon got in on the act to ensure Kestrels won by 21 to qualify for the quarter finals of the King Kit Trophy, 115-94.
TSK Head Coach Matt Guymon was really pleased with his sides performance, “I am really proud of the way the guys have bounced back this weekend, after two performances that we were not happy with as a whole group. Offensively we got a more balanced effort across the board with a number of guys in double figures and our assist numbers reflected our unselfish nature also. We know we’ll need to make some strides defensively as the season draws closer and we’re looking forward to testing ourselves against a very good Derby Trailblazers team.”
Kestrels head to Derby on Saturday in the quarter finals (7.30pm) before returning home on Saturday 5th October 2024 where they’ll get the NBL Division 2 season underway against Ipswich, tickets are now on sale for that game.
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