As the Charles Hays squad built on those key 10 minutes of the third frame to knock off Abbotsford's Robert Bateman Timberwolves on Thursday afternoon.
The Rainmakers and Bateman were fairly evenly matched in the first two quarters, pacing each other through the first twenty minutes, trading off leads, trading off baskets back and forth in a fast paced flow of high energy basketball.
The only period of real trouble for the Charles Hays Squad coming midway through the second quarter, as turnovers, back to back travel calls and other mental lapses, provided for points on turnovers to the Timberwolves.
However, as the final minutes of the first half came up, the Rainmakers began a strong push towards the midway buzzer, with Justin McChesney going to the foul line to end the first twenty minutes, securing 2 of 2 foul shot opportunities to provide the Rainmakers with a 29-28 half time lead.
Charles Hays began to take control of the game in the third quarter, using impressive ball handling to distribute the ball, keeping the Bateman squad running to and fro, from point to point.
It was in the third quarter as well that the Rainmakers also began to deliver on successive three point opportunities, as treys rained down on the LEC as the Rainmakers built on their lead.
And while many of the Rainmakers were getting in on the scoring, Perry Terrell began to add to his impressive point totals on the day through this period, making the most of the many scoring opportunities that were coming his way.
Midway through the final quarter, the Rainmakers were on cruise control, holding a twelve point lead with but seven minutes to go, making good use of the clock, slowing the game down and denying the Timberwolves much in the way of space to work with.
With but a minute and a half of the final ten minutes to go, Bateman would take their final time out, looking to design some quick three point opportunities to close the gap.
However some strong defence, highlighted by a number of massive swats at the basket by Justin McChesney sent balls scattering out of danger, his rebounding on the day serving as a massive contribution to the effort, one that denied any thoughts of Bateman making a charge on the Rainmaker lead.
As the clock delivered the games final buzzer, the Rainmakers would find themselves on the way to the semi-finals, holding a fourteen point margin over the Abbotsford squad, with the final score Charles Hays 72 - Robert Bateman 58.
 |
| And it's on to the Semi Finals after another Rainmaker Victory on Thursday |
The highlight reel efforts of Perry Terrell were recognized at games end, as he was selected the Player of the Game, based on his strong performance on the court, collecting 24 points on the afternoon, combined with excellence on the free throw line and a number of timely rebounds through the game.
And while Terrell deservedly received the honours of Thursday, the game itself was a complete team effort. As all of the Rainmakers on the court found the scoreboard on the afternoon, but more impressive was their ball handling, which kept the ball out of the Bateman hands for stretches at a time.
That clock management combined with few in the way of turnovers, made sure that their competition never had enough time to try and knock down the Charles Hays lead in the final quarter.
The Rainmakers now turn their attention to the Semi-Final Showdown for Friday, when they take on one of the other Charles' that reached the tournament, with a rendezvous with Vancouver's Sir Charles Tupper Tigers.
The Tigers came into this years AAA Tournament as the number one ranked team, arriving at the semi final match up with the Rainmakers following two impressive victories.
The first a 68-36 victory over LV Rogers on Wednesday and a 61-47 final over Nanaimo in Thursday's quarterfinal matchup.
The Rainmakers will be well versed in what the Tupper squad brings to the tournament, the two teams met up earlier this year with a tightly played game at the Pitt Meadows Air Show.
A tournament match up which saw Tupper take that one by a score of 55-51.
It's safe to imagine that coaches Mel and Ryan Bishop took notes from that showcase event of January and will have the Charles Hays squad ready for the rematch, a game that sends someone named Charles on to the big dance of Saturday night.
Tip off for today's Semi-Final is 3:30 PM
 |
| Charles Hays Roster Click to Enlarge |
 |
| Sir Charles Tupper Roster Click to Enlarge |
Some media notes on the Rainmakers/Tupper match up can be found below:
A Chance of Rainmakers? McChesney and Co. top Bateman, get No. 1 Tupper in BC 3 A Final four
Game time updates and background on the Rainmakers can be found on the CHSS Sports twitter feed, which continues to offer up some fascinating background to the tournament so far.
For more items related to the AAA Tournament see our Tournament Results page here.
As well, to review the Rainmaker season to this point, see our Charles Hays Rainmakers Archive page.
No comments:
Post a Comment