Students hand out another lesson to Mansfield Giants

Mansfield Giants are still searching for their first win of the season after a third defeat by the Loughborough Student Riders lst saturday.
Basketball action between Mansfield Giants and Loughborough.Basketball action between Mansfield Giants and Loughborough.
Basketball action between Mansfield Giants and Loughborough.

This now leaves the Giants with a 0-4 record, propping up the rest of the EBL Division Two.

There was misery also for the Giants’ women as they were crushed 104-51 by Leeds carnegie.

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In the men’s game, Loughborough came out full of confidence after beating the Giants on two other occasions already this season.

The Riders applied their full court pressure from the tip-off, which gained them the lead from start to finish as the first quarter ended 25-16 to Loughborough.

The young Giants continued to struggle with the Riders’ pressure as they continued to build on their lead, the gap opening up to 20 going into the half-time break.

The Giants composed themselves over the interval and started to handle the pressure much better.

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The gap started to close, but there was still a lot of work to do if Mansfield were going to make a comeback. Great pressure from the Giants saw them starting to claw their way back into the game, but it was a case of too little too late.

The Riders started to break the Giants press’ to gain some easy baskets towards the end of the game to give them a comfortable 93-72 victory.

Giants’ top scorers; C Gamble 18, D Richards 17, P Xavier 14.

Giants’ men now have a weekend off, which couldn’t have happened at a better time as they look to regroup and work on getting their injured players back on court.

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Giants’ women were well beaten 104-51 on Saturday by a Leeds Carnegie who outpaced the taller Mansfield side and showed their form from outside the arc. The side who dropped down from Division One last season, stepped into gear from the tip-off, piling on the majority of the points in the first quarter.

It wasn’t until the second quarter that the Giants upped their intensity and worked the ball inside to play to their strengths and score some points in the paint.

However, Leeds reacted to the Giants’ change of tempo, knocking down a series of three-pointers to remain ahead, out-scoring the home side 19-13.

Although it seemed as if the game was already over. Giants kept on ploughing away, making progress on offence to score their highest points in the third quarter. But some sloppy passing allowed Leeds to break away, executing perfectly with the understrength Giants team tiring.

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The fourth quarter saw Leeds showing fine form from outside and breaking down the Giants’ offence to fast break, though the home side gave their all until the final whistle.

Giants’ U1s2 team recorded a stunning 123-31 win over the Ilkeston Outlaws on Sunday in the Notts Open Mini Basketball League.

The U12s are currently looking to recruit new players in school years 4-7. The club run a beginners’ session on a Saturday, 11am-noon at Oak Tree Leisure Centre and the first session is free.

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