Dominant display sends Hemel Storm to a big victory

Greg Poleon was in fine form for Hemel Storm again. Picture by Joanne Charles

Hemel Storm delivered a comfortable and dominant 101-73 win at Leicester Warriors to maintain their place in the top four of the NBL Division One.

Former Warriors player Taylor Johnson led the way for Vanarama-sponsored Storm with 25 points, eight rebounds and six assists, closely followed by Tayo Oyefusi with 17 points, Greg Poleon with 16 points and seven rebounds and Jack Burnell, who scored 13 points.

Before the first quarter started, coach Dru Spinks wanted energy from both the defensive and offensive ends of the court as the Warriors had lined up with a tall team.

The pre-match team talk worked as Storm got off to a flying start, opening up an 11-2 lead.

Warriors responded but Storm showed why they were the dominant team.

The grit on both the defence and offence gave them the advantage which helped them score open three-pointers and get some good percentage shots to end the first quarter with a 26-14 lead.

After such a brilliant first quarter, Storm backed it up by starting the second very well.

Eventually, after two three-pointers from Burnell and one from Shaq Lewis, Warriors coach Karl Brown had no choice but to call a timeout with his team trailing 37-18.

From then, the scores went back and forth but Storm managed to pull away once again to go into the locker room with a 55-35 lead.

The start to the third quarter saw Leicester outscoring Storm who were getting into foul trouble and committing many turnovers.

Leicester got back to within 13 points but Hemel managed to regain control at the end of the quarter with Johnson making two of his two free throws, a Burnell three-pointer and, immediately after Storm regained possession after a Warriors inbound, with a Taylor Johnson dunk to end the quarter 82-62 to the good.

Storm didn’t let up and got off to an amazing start in the final quarter to open up a game-high lead of 33 points.

This meant they could experiment with their squad to see a contribution from all members of the team, including the two University of Hertfordshire Storm players Temitayo Fatusin and Toby Gastaldi-Davies.

Storm can now look forward to a trip to a strong Worthing Thunder on Saturday (7.30pm tip) before returning back home for a double-header weekend against Nottingham Hoods (February 26, 7pm) and Bradford Dragons (February 27, 5pm).

Tickets for the next home games are available to order in advance at www.stormbasketball.net