A tired Erks side, who were playing their 6th game of the Tournament to the Army's 4th as a result of an unfortunate draw (more later on this) battled manfully to always stay in touch with the Army, who got of to a flying start on the back of Junior Murray's 18 point first half. With the Army fielding 2 orthodox guards and 3 athletic leapers who attack the basket relentlessly, there was always going to be a problem on defence for the Erks, who initially fielded 3 guards, one leaper and a non-rebounding, slow handed power forward. However, despite Murray scoring at will for the first 10 minutes with a succession of drives to the hoop, followed by a pair of 3's as the Erks sagged back, the Erks lead 21-20 on the back of some fine shooting from Shab Niaz and some typical forays into the paint from Keith Pringle. However a sloppy end to the period, which saw Army point guard Carl Black pick up a couple of lay-ups after turnovers, saw the Erks go into half-time trailing 28-24.

With Coach Gary Glennard's demand that the Erks give a big effort to stay in touch (so that their superior shooters could decide the game in crunch time) ringing in their ears, the Erks promptly emerged to turn the ball over on their first 4 trips up the floor. Fortunately, on 3 occasions, the Army handed it straight back, so minimal damage was done. However, the Army had cranked up their defence in the second half, Keith Pringle being forced to work hard to receive the ball and Shab Niaz being smothered on the perimeter. As a result 2 Adrian Leclair lay-ups in traffic were all the Erks had to show for the first 6 minutes of the 2nd 12 minute half. After a couple of Des George baskets, the Army had pulled out to a 38-28 lead, and with the Erks looking tired, the Waveney crowd, who were all now watching (and for the most part supporting) the Erks as the Met Police were blowing out the other semi-final, started to head for the exits. Fortunately, no sooner had they got to their feet than they were back down again, as first Femi Ariyo and then Keith Pringle produced big "and 1" plays to keep the Erks within 7 points.

As the clock passed 9 minutes, it seemed like that gap would prove just too much, as the Erks were still struggling to score. So were the Army though, as the Erks with 6'0 veteran Declan McCusker now at power forward, were more than holding their own on the boards. With the Erks in touch with the game on the line, Coach Glennard's prediction about the Erks shooters coming to the party suddenly and gloriously came to fruition, as Ontario native Adrian Leclair caught fire. Leclair twice drove to the hoop and came back with 2 points amidst shot blocking attempts from all angles. Although exhausted by this point, the sight of Gary in his 12 year old Erks sweatshirt, Shakey and Chims on the bench had presumably convinced the Erks five that they weren't getting a rest at this stage. Not that they needed one, as after a Pringle deuce with a minute and a half remaining cut the lead to 6, the next two scores in the game were both Leclair 3 pointers to tie the game and send a hall full of hungover people into as close to delirium as they could get (not that close admittedly).

With less than a minute to go, the Army held their nerve and after setting up in the half court, they went to their top scorer Murray, whose baseline drive for his 25th & 25th points of the game, gave them a 2 point lead. With Glennard out of time-outs and the Army coach not about to help out on that score, the Erks went down the floor for one last time. With the Army crowding the perimeter, the Erks stayed with the hot hand in Adrian Leclair, however under pressure his 3 pointer with 5 seconds to go was long. With everyone around losing their head, the rebound was snagged by the coolest man on the court in McCusker, who kicked it back out to a wide open Keith Pringle outside the arc. With everyone in the hall on their feet, Pringle's shot looked good all the way. All the way until it went in, rattled round the rim and came back out again......the Army prevailing in a Caister classic which was played in the right spirit between teams who have been battling it out in Norfolk for the best part of the last 15 years (the Erks with 4 Caister titles still leading the way, after the Army were beaten 2 hours later in a slam-dunking final by the Met Police....).

The Erks route to the semi-finals was more circuitous than most, as they were forced to play 6 games just to get there, which was as many as the Army and Met Police played in the entire tournament.

With 25 entrants, the teams were split into five groups of four and one group of five, with the top two in each pool advancing to the knock-out stages. No prizes for guessing which pool the Erks were in, so after a Friday night game (requested as ever in a cunning ruse not to get an early Saturday game), the Erks were back in action at 9am the next morning for three more games on the Saturday.

After the group stages, twelve teams were left standing, so four group winners were drawn out by draw supremo Mick Byrne, with those teams getting a bye to the Quarter Finals. Again no prizes for guessing who one of the Group winners who didn't receive a bye were, so the Erks were left rueing their bad luck and looking forward to an early start for an elimination game against one of the runners-up.

The bad luck then turned into dismal fortune, as draw supremo Mick Byrne had decided that seeding the draw for the elimination games was a concept too complex for a tournament offering £3,000 prize money. Therefore the Erks stood around in bemusement and watched as the runners-up were drawn against each other and the Erks were left to play fellow group winner Lasers at 9am the next morning.

Despite the first Erks protest at the draw being tabled 8 nanoseconds after the conclusion of proceedings, directly to draw supremo Mick Byrne, the draw supremo deemed that too much time had elapsed, and therefore the draw must stand.

Erks Results:

Group Stages:
Erks 45 - Moustache Hunters (Bournemouth) 29
Erks 48 - Win or Lose (Leicester) 34
Erks 44 - Too Much Game Returns (S London) 34
Erks 54 - Richmond Jaguars 39

Knock-out Stages:
Erks 41 - Lasers (Birmingham) 38
Erks 57 - Tolworth Ballers 26
Erks 45 - REME (British Army) 47

A more detailed account of the Erks other matches will be revealed in Chims' Caister Blog.

Report posted: 10/04/06