To the Essex Sports Arena! On Sunday afternoon, as Essex Rebels were hosting Hemel Storm in a Men’s Div One Championship match.
Much has been made of the supposed rivalry between the Rebs and Hemel Storm. If you squint ever so faintly then you can possibly just about see it, but I fail to get excited about a matchup with a team based over in Hertfordshire.
What was a little more concerning was that new Rebs head coach Joshua Perkins is still looking for his first dub. That’s not to say the team is playing badly. They have pushed all their competitors in the previous matches incredibly close but just can’t get over the line.
It didn’t look too promising ahead of tip off when the Rebs bench was only half-dressed. They were incredibly short on options and it looked like it could be a long evening ahead.
Storm had bought a sizeable away following. A battle of the drums took place with the right old racket being made by two sets of supporters.
I would say SHOUT OUT to the incredibly enthusiastic young kid sitting in front of us, but he was doing his own shouting out. Fair play for all the effort and energy. We’ve sat with him behind us before. We had to move after five minutes. We thought we would try and stick it out on Sunday afternoon.
Making his home court debut for the Rebs was a new number 12 Melchi Egbeyemi. He saw plenty of court time with such a short bench in the first quarter. Some wild shooting from the Rebs was a little off target. They left the court after the first quarter, trailing Storm 22-17.
The atmosphere was half-decent for a Sunday afternoon Rebels match. The new MC is doing a fine job and is warming up well into the role.
The Rebels were superb in the second quarter. Tyrese Hudson overcame some of his personal demons and managed to sink three free throws in a row. Good effort fella.
Tre Baumgardner III dominated showing all his style and skill as he set up a superb backboard pass for one of his teammates, with the Rebels then moving slightly ahead, 36-34.
Controlling things for Storm was a former Rebs playmaker Victor Olaerin. He was full of energy out there as ever.
Once a Reb, always a Reb, etc.
The halftime buzzer came with the scores at 48 all. The last thing I wanted after last weekend was another overtime session.
We took the strategic move to shift away from the incredibly loud young kid. Christ that boy’s got a right old screechy pair of lungs on him.
The third quarter kept it tight for both teams. Rebels edged ahead by one point, taking a 69 to 68 lead into the final quarter.
The Kiss Cam appeared on the big screen. I had to move once again, shuffling four seats to my left, so we were both singletons. You’re not going to get any kiss cam action out of me.
Some huge back to back three-pointers followed in the fourth from Rebs star shooter Kyron Martin. I then got even a little more paranoid when the Lookalike Cam appeared on the big screen and Mr Bean’s smiling face appeared.
What are you trying to do to me here?
Storm were incredibly strong towards the close of the game. The Rebels just ran out of energy. With fifteen seconds left on the clock, the Rebels were trailing 91-88.
Some set plays failed to bring the scores level and Storm left the building with a well-deserved 93 to 88 victory.
