JWSport Jacek Waszak – Sport journalist
The last quarter belonged to WARSAW 79:86 (27:14, 13:23, 15:20, 24:29)
Bristol Flyers before the last game won at home with a big advantage and everything indicated that we will have a very good match between Legia Warsaw because they defeated London Lions 108 – 85, and it was their last game before the European ENBL League, they had a lot to prove to break the good run of the Polish team. Legia Warsaw have only wins so far and this is their fourth game in this group stage of ENBL where they are on top of the table. On Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. they played on 30 October 2024, where I came to the game and had the chance to watch live this historic meeting of the Warsaw club. For the first time in my life they came to Bristol and played a basketball match here at the SGS College Arena I usually here sedzuje professionally 1 and 2 leagues on a daily basis it was also important for me because here matches are not won easily on these floors is a difficult area. Yes they won this match. Legia from Poland won with English team Bristol Flyers 86:79 this loss gives the host is in the league in the ENBL 5th place , and guests from Warsaw noted the third victory in the European cups . The visitors to Warsaw are in first place in Group B with 7 points, followed only by the Danish Bakken Bears Aarhus with six points.
In the game against Bristol Flyers, Maximilian Wilczek was in the starting line-up. The first points of the game were scored by Demond Robinson, but a minute later Ojars Silins responded with a three-pointer. In the next actions 7 points in a row were scored by Tennyson. After 5 minutes, Bristol Flyers were playing with much more intensity, attacking more confidently and effectively and there was a 10 point difference on the scoreboard, 15:5 to be exact. Legia Warsaw was helpless and played very slowly and came probably not warmed up at the beginning because Bristol Flyers imposed on them a big fast pace. The Flyers also defended well from the start and were focused and executed their plan to win the game that night and thanks to this discipline and focus they forced 7 losses from Legia which gave them a 27:14 win after 10 minutes, a 13 point lead.
Yes the second quarter visibly improved for Legia from a shooting point of view and the speed of the game was still poor , and the Bristol Flyers were still on the attack and had better three point efficiency and also in defence twqardo defended and we had a few blocks on Legia . Despite the poor performance , the visitors led 8:2 in this quarter .
The problems started for Bristol, they were looking to restore the lead they had in the first period. In doing so, they managed to get out to a seven-point lead before Shawn Jones and Jawun Evans quickly levelled the Flyers’ scoring early in the third quarter. However, the visitors’ spurt was interrupted by an accurate three by Jared Sherfield. After a more evenly matched part of the game, Legia put together another good scoring run, this time 8:0, and 2 minutes before the break they were losing by just two points . Coach Andreas Kapoulas’ charges went to the locker room leading 40:37, which was a very favourable result for Legia, considering their play in the first half and losing by as much as 8:17.
After the change of sides, Legia Warszawa started with two losses, as if they did not draw conclusions from the first period. After a poor start, Jawun Evans and Shawn Jones had a good stretch, reducing the loss to just 2 ‘points’. The rest of the third quarter was very ragged, with both sides making a lot of mistakes and fouling frequently, which also translated into a few unsportsmanlike fouls and numerous clashes between players of both teams.The game was played on the advantage, with the sides getting into shoves. In total, this third quarter lasted 35 minutes, with numerous breaks for referee decisions to settle some of the altercations , tug-of-war ; in the most important of these Robinson, Lewis and Walshe received technical fouls, , and from such situations Mate Vucić was ejected from the court and given a disqualification foul by the referees for bumping heads between himself and Owen Mccormack with number 13 , The coach and coach Evan Walshe, number 77, shouted to each other, grabbed him by the shirt and violently pushed and shoved him, and Demond Robinson, number 15, was pushed off the pitch.
The last quarter of the game was a very close one for Legia and the coach of Ivica Skelina asked for a timeout to reorganize the ranks, it had an effect because the team woke up the fourth gear and defender Andrzej Pluta scored his personal points, and then an important three-pointer at the end of the third quarter gave the guests a 57-55 lead.
The last quarter Legia started more concentrated and disciplined because they saw a chance to win this night, and the opponent still weakened and also lacked the quality for three or two from distance. There were important decisions needed at this point who will shoulder the victory for the Hosts and win the match, and in turn the signal to attack gave Legia because Dominik Grudziński hit a three-pointer from the left side of the court (behind the line of 6.75 m). Another three-pointer was thrown from the middle of the court by Andrzej Pluta, after a while he assisted Grudziński’s lay-up and Legia was leading in this part of the game already by 13:2. Three-point shooting in the whole game (11/23), out of which as many as five successful attempts from distance were made by the visitors in the last, decisive quarter. Apart from the aforementioned duo, Michał Kolenda and Jawun Evans also played good competitions for the Polish club. Legia has some things to correct at this point for the future, because it is impossible to play like that with such losses. The attack woke up and quality throws for the Polish club Andrzej Pluta and Michal Kolenda and Jawun Evans Grudzinski showed up well and played on the boards . Legia have at this pointLegionists finally played patiently, looking for their advantages, which quickly gave them a double-digit lead. In the end, with the constant cheering of a group of Legia fans, the basketball players from Warsaw defeated the Bristol Flyers 86:79 in an away game.
There is a lot to improve on after this match. As many as 22 losses and a missed rebound are the clearest evidence of this.
This coming weekend, on 3 November at ( 16:00 ), Bristol Flayers play against B. Braun Sheffield Sharks , and the team from Warsaw Legia Warszawa also plays away on the same day at (17:30), against Czarni Słupsk.
Bristol Flyers – Legia Warszawa 79:86 (27:14, 13:23, 15:20, 24:29)
Bristol Flyers : Jared Sherfield 16 (1), Kendall Lewis 14 (1), Demond Robinson 13 (1), Evan Walshe 10 (1), Owen Mccormack 9 (3), Trevian Tennyson 8 (1), Kedrian Johnson 5, Corey Samuels 4, Raphell Thomas Edwards 0, Ebuka Ekwegh -, Leslee Smith -, Pasquale Landofil -.
Legia Warszawa : Andrzej Pluta 16 (4), Dominik Grudzinski 16 (2), Jawun Evans 12 (2), Michal Kolenda 12 (2), KameronMcgusty 9, Ojars Silins 7 (1), Shawn Jones 5, Mate Vucic 4, Maksymilian Wilczek 3, Marcin Wielinski 2, Julian Dąbrowski 0.
