TOM MASTERSON vowed to end Warwickshire Bears’ winless streak following a sixth defeat of the British Wheelchair Basketball League Premier Division campaign against hosts Exeter Otters.
However, Bears’ second and third sides helped compensate for the first team’s narrow 57-47 loss with victories over Blackhawks’ first and second teams.
After pressing the Bears into making mistakes from the tip-off, the Otters finished the first quarter with a 16-10 lead – one which they extended to 33-26 at half-time.
Daz Peasley was marked closely by the Otters in quarter three to push him further out of shooting range, although Macauley Thompson and Jacob Robinson kept Bears in touch at 47-36 going into the final 15.
Despite the best efforts of the Bears, they were unable to overturn the deficit and lost out by ten points – a result which head coach Masterson hopes to rectify in the coming weeks.
“Congratulations to Otters on a great performance and a good win for them,” he said.
“They put us under enormous pressure from the tip-off and we couldn’t break the shackles they put on us.
“We will go away and work hard on our game and try to get a win from somewhere.”
In Division One South, the second team edged out Blackhawks 40-39 in an encounter that remained in the balance throughout.
Theo Pilkington was the match-winner for Bears, scoring the winning basket just three seconds from time.
Assistant coach Dan Smith said: “It was a fantastic game from start to finish. We won by the narrowest of margins with three seconds left on the clock and, although we trailed for most of the game, we remained positive and never gave up.”
Bears 3rds sealed a 36-22 win over Blackhawks’ second team in the first game of the Division Three Central/South East season, with Ellen Fraser and Kyle Jackson standing out for the hosts.
