Leeds Tigers 72

Kendal Warriors 75

KENDAL Warriors showed their fighting qualities to finish their season on a high after a hard fought overtime victory at mid-table Leeds Tigers.

The Warriors, light on numbers following a spate of injuries, were seconds from victory in regular time until Leeds levelled with a free throw in the last play of the match.

But the Warriors, who trailed for much of the match, dug deep to seal a dramatic victory with Gareth France - who finished with a personal haul of 22 points - scoring two deep three pointers in overtime.

The Tigers had led at the end of each of the three first quarters, holding a narrow 16-15 advantage at the end of the first - although Nathan Williams and Keith McInnes were becoming increasingly influential as they began to cause problems for Leeds inside the paint.

Tom Withnell helped the Warriors continue their solid form into the second quarter as he drove well to the basket.

However, the Kendal defence was starting to give up a number of outside shots as Leeds started to open up their lead, with Lawal hitting three straight baskets for the hosts who opened up a 39-30 lead at the half way stage.

The half time break allowed Kendal to compose themselves and adjust their defence to cope with the Leeds shooting threat.

It paid dividends as Kendal started the third period in a much more assertive manner, stifling the Tigers offence.

Williams and Basedow scored some important early points and after a successful three pointer from Gareth France and a converted pair a free throws from Withnell, the Warriors were able to reduce the Tigers lead to 50-45.

The final quarter saw Kendal demonstrate the progress they have made over the season as they displayed great intensity on defence and controlled play on offence. As the quarter went on the lead exchanged hands a number of times until with only 15 seconds remaining Mullan hit two free throws for the Tigers to establish a two point lead for the hosts.

The Warriors quickly called a time out to draw up one last ditch offence which they executed perfectly to find France open in the corner who nailed a three pointer to give Kendal a one point lead with eight seconds to go.

But there was to be another twice as Broodie drew contact from the Warriors defence sending him to the free throw line where he converted one of his shots to tie the game and send it to overtime.

Kendal had to quickly clear their heads as they now had to play an extra period of five minutes but France had the ultimate say as he hit two deep three pointers to give the Warriors the lead which they cemented when Crockford and McInnes converted free throws to seal victory.

Scorers: G France 22, P Mason 18, M Basedow 12, N Williams 11, K McInnes 6, T Withnell 5, M Crockford 1