Kendal Warriors 67 - 93 Gateshead Phoenix

PLAY-OFF hopefuls Gateshead Phoenix did their chances no harm as they romped home to victory over Kendal Warriors on Saturday.

Kendal were full of confidence following their win last weekend away to Liverpool and had a vocal home crowd behind them.

But it was the visitors who started the brightest as their new signing Baugh hit the opening five points.

Kendal looked to respond as Kevin Mason and Keith McInnes found space around the basket to score points, but it was Baugh who scored 14 of his game total 19 points in this quarter to open up their lead.

Hope was returned to Kendal as Gareth France hit two consecutive three point shots to pull the hosts back to within eight points but five quick points from Tyrrell saw the Phoenix lead 16- 27 at the end of the quarter.

The second quarter saw the Warriors struggle with their offence after Kevin Mason had opened the scoring with a put back from a rebound he had taken.

However eight points between another new signing Nicholson and Appleby in just two minutes extended Gateshead's lead. Baskets from Marc Crockford and Nathan Williams on top of further baskets from McInnes and Kevin Mason would be all that the Warriors could muster in this quarter as a lethargic and predictable display was punished by the visitors to open the lead up to 26- 51 at the half.

Nicholson hit a further eight points for the visitors as careless play when in possession of the ball by the Warriors was punished.

Faced with the prospect of another heavy defeat something finally clicked as Kendal started to finally up the intensity of their play.

Baskets from France, Williams and Crockford saw the Warriors start to erode the Gateshead lead and with Tom Withnell and Kevin Mason adding further points the Warriors had cut the lead back to 27 going into the final quarter.

Going into the final quarter the home crowd were becoming increasingly vocal and boisterous, spurred on by the increase in effort and intensity from what they had finally seen on the court.

This helped further push on their team as the Warriors scored 11 unanswered points to breath new hope into the game, slashing the Gateshead lead and prompting the away team into a timeout to regroup.

The Warriors continued to trade baskets with their opposition for the following five minutes as Kendal kept to within 18 points going into the final two minutes of the game.

However Gateshead scored nine unanswered points of their own in this remaining time as the home team started to force their offence in desperation to try and make further inroads into the Gateshead lead.

Frustrations also get the better of Kendal as they complained about what they perceived to be a series of refereeing calls going against them with the Warriors called for 16 fouls in the match against only six for Gateshead.

This presented the Phoenix with further easy points from the free throw line allowing them to put a little more gloss on the final scoreline which finished 67- 93.

Kendal take to the road next weekend as they travel to Preston.

Scorers

G France 20 K Mason 15 K McInnes 10 M Crockford 6 M Basedow 6 T Withnell 4 N Williams 4 P Mason 4