Nottingham Hoods made it three straight NBL Division One league wins after an 85-80 win over Essex & Hearts Leopards at the Wildcats Arena on Saturday night.
The Hoods started with Luke Mitchell, Lauritis Juffer, Demetrius Houston, Garrison Goode and Delany Powell in their five with Kieran Wright in the squad after a recent spell in Derby.
It was the perfect start for the Hoods as they took an 8-0 lead with a good start made by Delaney Powell in particular scoring 50% of the early buckets.
The away team however soon closed the gap to 13-11 and took the lead by the end of the querter to lead 19-21.
Nottingham got back in the lead at 26-25 when Powell started the second off as he did the first and Kieran Wright put the Hoods up by five before a Leopards comeback tied the scores with just over 4 minutes to play of the period. The Hoods ending the half with a slender 42-39 lead.
The third period was much of the same ebbing and flowing as Mitchell provided the first points before Powell did his stuff and Houston made the free throws before a big three by Mitchell gave the Hoods a 56-47 lead.
The teams exchanged three’s with Spencer netting for Nottingham and by the end of the period the home team were in control with an eight point lead 66-58.
A nervy start however saw the Leopards take the lead and looking convincing at 72-77 before Houston delievered back to back points a big two followed by an even bigger three to tie things up again.
Two more scores for Hoods put them in full control with Mitchell fouled with an extra on the free throw but with time running out the Leopards had the game within a score at 82-80 when with one second on the clock Kieran Wright played it off the back of an opponent to drop the three and give Nottingham a stunning win on home court.
Demetrius Houston with 27 points won the games MVP but a fairytale winning return for Kieran Wright crowned off by his audacious game clincher on the final play.
Head Coach Ryan Westley stating “We ground out a tough win against an ever improving Leopards side. Coach Baker had a great game plan but we managed to grit it out, everyone made huge plays during the fame to keep our momentum moving forward”.
Next up for the Hoods is Liverpool with a trip to Merseyside on 21st December.
*Main image @hoodsbasketball warming up prior to the Essex & Herts Leopards clash.
