Huge come back for Essex Rebels men
Essex Rebels Division 1 men had a busy weekend with a home double header against Loughborough Riders and Leicester Warriors.
Saturday saw Rebels host the Riders in a packed Essex sport arena. Essex started slow out of the blocks with Loughborough gaining early momentum.
The rebels were able to claw back into the game after the half time interval to set up a exciting last quarter. Essex lost some offensive rhythm and the momentum swung back into the favour of Loughborough. The game finished 68 – 86 to the Riders.
Lee Hodges led the team with 18 points and backed up by Rory Winters 14 points.
A quick turn around for Essex saw them then host Leicester warriors in a regulation battle on Sunday.
Essex beat Leicester at their place, which meant the warriors needed to win.
The game started in a blowout against the Rebels. It seemed that they had given their all the day before. The Rebels were down 28 points at half time.
However this game was a tale of two halves. Essex rallied and stunned the warriors in the 3rd quarter. Stepping up the defensive intensity and scoring at will, winning the third quarter 26 – 14.
The fourth quarter saw Essex with work still to do down 14 points. The momentum firmly swung and stayed with the Rebels. A collective effort by the group allowed them to out score the warriors by 22 points and take a huge comeback win. The game finished 86 – 80 and the rebels seals the head to head tiebreaker in the regulation battle.
Essex had 5 guys in double digit scoring led by Jake Eynons 15 points and Lee Hodges double double.
Coach Ross Norfolk was proud of their character. “The character shown by the group was immense. At the half they had a choice, and as a group they rallied together. Rory was huge for us in the 3rd, locking up their main scoring threat and that set the standard for the rest of the game. Timely scores by Jake, Josh and Ben helped us keep our momentum’.
Essex now look ahead to Sunday as they take on league leaders Solent Kestrels.
