Luton Fliers

News of the imminent departures of Fliers stalwart Steve Groom and ‘one and done’ Ian Redmond has rocked Herts basketball to it’s very core.

Groom, a one time problem child with a questionable ‘tude has recently refined his game from troublesome streetballer to less-troublesome streetballer, and in the process garnerned the respect of players and coaches around the league with his all hustle defense and streaky offense.

Mo' Handles Mo' Turnovers

A product of the ‘Sweet Buckets System’ of taking promising but troubled youngsters off the mean streets of Bedfordshire and keeping them out of jail through basketball, Steve has gone on to feature in many brawls over the years, dutifully accepting the team role as ‘antagonist’ following the departure of Craig Tye to Chicago a year ago. His herky-jerky european 2 step moves to the hoop remind basketball fans of a young Manu Ginobili with a smaller nose and more STD’s. Groom has decided to forego the 2011-2012 season to live out his lifelong dream as a drugs mule in South America.

Redmond on the other hand has taken up a generous contract offer to play for Wokingham Whelks in the Berks league in an attempt to dodge persecution at home for being a Serbian sex pest. Redmond, once a young gited lefty who could make jump shots and drive to the basket and finish with aplomb, left Ware Jokers as a trophy whore and joined Fliers last season who promptly went trophyless while Jokers took the league title. He remains a raw talent, capable of missing 80% of his free throws on any given night, taking peoples arms off on every defensive play, and impregnating female officials from 20 paces with his icy euro-rape glare.

The holes left by these two young sluts require filling urgently, as the prospect of running a squad of 7 this season caused Coach Sweet Buckets to recently mutter “Bloody Hell!” at the Herts AGM. All at Luton Fliers wish Ian and Steve the best of luck in their new ventures, and are now facing the prospect of a starting five that averages out at 16 stone per player. If you can make a layup, a freethrow or wave towels from the bench, please get in touch with either Coach Sweet Buckets at drossington@beckman.com or rafe.abrook@odmltd.com  We have a lovely shiny kit thats not long enough, and the bar at our sportscentre has crisps and nuts.

Dispite missing 4 players last night the Luton Fliers Second division team defeated Hatfield Magic 76 – 41 
it was an easy win after last weeks game which finnished only 4 points between the same two teams.

Sponsored By the G Casino (Luton)

G-Casino Luton Fliers Head Coach and GM, Dave ‘Sweet Buckets’ Rossington recently evaluated his injury depleted squad and decided that he didn’t have enough ageing, dirty players on it. A quick phone call to the front office of Herts Warriors and a deal was soon struck sending grizzled gingernut Luke Patterson to Luton in exchange for a bag of Scampi Fries and a DFS ‘Double the Discount’ coupon. In another unprecedented move, Rossington swooped in to sign coveted Irish guard Paddy Hegarty to offer insurance against ‘Triple P’ Robson inevitably getting ejected by Ronnie Oren in future games.

Patterson gets given the XXL kit

Whilst many insiders are questioning the decision for Sweet Buckets to bring another ginger to Fliers, with strawberry blonde Chris Whybrow already manning the middle, the Hall of Fame coach responded by adding that “as he lives in Dunstable, he can give me a lift to games”. The signing of Hegarty breaks the Fliers trend of endlessly recruiting lumbering thirty something bigs, in that the guard can both see and touch his own toes.

Patterson was soon up against his old team in a physical encounter at Queens School, where Fliers had to overcome 8 three pointers from D. Craine and several missed Whybrow layups in the first half. Thankfully they held their nerve and by digging deep to uncover hitherto unknown levels of dirtiness, they prevailed 84 – 71 as Big Red discovered where the basket was located in the second half, and Little Red thieved every attempted dribble and half pass at the defensive end. Patterson’s influence even inspired Abrook to play a modicum of defense for a 3 minute spell in the fourth quarter much to the shock of his team mates. Meanwhile ‘Red Red’ Redmond had to miss the fixture due to a poorly ankle and a slightly snotty nose. His website indicates he could ‘return soon’ however his ‘shoes got a little dusty’ in the last game, and he is receiving counseling as a result.

In 2 games to date Hegarty has proven to be an effective finisher and an accomplished flopper despite his diminutive stature, and while his elbows may not swing quite as frequently as James ‘MVP’ Tyes, he promises to be able to get under the skin of opponents like any good Flier. Rossington now awaits the return to health of Neil Baker (shoulder), Jon Gill (hand) and Jock Mackay (knee and girth).

Mackay - Lumbering in a kilt yesterday

Another inter Casino clash, would see the victor progress in the group stages of the Herts Cup tournament. G-Casino Fliers 1 were missing several players through injury and only had 5 players minutes before tip off. With James Tye, Jock Mackay and Nelson Kasasera all playing their first games of the season for Fliers 1, there was always going to be some rust on display at the start.  And rust there was as Raiders ran off to a 9 – 2 lead as Fliers struggled out of the gate with their unconditioned athletes lumbering somewhat.  Thankfully what they lacked in speed they made up for in heft, and Kasasara, Mackay and Abrook began pummeling their way inside to draw fouls on the Raiders bigs. Coupled with 7 quick points from point guard Tye, this resulted in a 16 – 0 run that shocked the visitors, and the lead would not be relinquished again. The second quarter saw Rafe Abrook catch fire from outside connecting on 4 straight jump shots in the period as the Fliers ball movement began to match their defence. A halftime lead of 38 – 25 was Fliers reward.

Kasasera started brightly in the third quarter with a couple of scores inside, and Abrook took his defender baseline for a generous helping of Slam Pie. When Paulsy Robson finally awoke from his shooting slumber with his first made three he landed on the defenders foot and twisted his ankle. Being the spit and sawdust player he is, he continued to play albeit with restricted movement. Inspired by his gutsy effort Mackay made a rare trip from the ground for a couple of strong finishes and Fliers were cruising again. The quarter ended in somewhat spectacular fashion with Abrook heaving up a hail mary 35 foot shot in the dying seconds that swished through cleanly. A dagger in the heart of the 8 or so Raiders supporters supporting the away team.

Up 22 at this point and feeling and looking fatigued, Fliers tried to slow the tempo to ride out the last quarter and protect their stricken hero, Robson. Kasasera and Abrook bulled their way inside for a couple of scores each, and despite a late rally from Raiders the final margin of victory finished at 24 points. Impressively despite very dubious officiating from one official, none of the Fliers team fouled out and Tye didn’t start any fights. Fliers scorers were; Abrook 27, Kasasera 18, Mackay 13, Tye 12, Robson 7.

Still undefeated, with another great win for the Luton Fliers 2nd division team, making it 3 for 3 and topping the table.

The G Casino should be a proud sponsor after tonight’s victory over Herts Warriors,

 Tonight the Luton Fliers 2nd division basketball team gave an amazing performance with a 58 – 74 win away to Herts Warriors. 

The Game started off strong with Kevin winning the tip and Brother Steve finishing it off with an old school layup,
Luton’s Defence was awsome but very frustrating for the Warriors, putting them on team fouls so early in the first period,
Andy Cherry & Kevin Groom shooting strong from the free throw line gave the Fliers a 3 point lead… score 15-18.

There was no change in the 2nd period, Steve definatly had his weetabix today and was on fire, making the fliers only 3 point shot of the game, the defence was getting stonger, and within 5 mins the Warriors were again in foul trouble,
obviously taking full advantage, the Fliers made 9/15 free throws both Andy and Shane 100% from the line, Robert made his first apperiance with a number of great rebounds and a well deserved 2 points, then after a clash under the ring  shocker Kevin managed to get himself a Technical Foul…score 25-40.

And from out of knowhere the determined Luton Fliers up the game even moreand were all over the Warriors on defence, for the first 7 mins only a foul from Andy allowed the Warriors 2 points from the free throw line, Neil’s assist’s allowed a number of players contribute to the 19 points earned in the 3rd period… score 36-59.

The Fliers defence fell to peices when the Warrior’s hit 9 points from 3 shots in the first 2 mins, but after a time out and a new stratergythe game was back on, points flowed for both teams,  it was all happening in the 4th period, we saw Lewis at the free throw line and Steve hit another 2 in a row, but just in time to make it on the score sheet, Dan Haghir in the last minuite grabs a rebound and earns himself 2 points puting the entire team on the score sheet… final score 58-74.

So a massive well done to the entire team a well deserved win.

Match Stats

G-Casino Luton Fliers have clinched their second Herts Premier League title in 3 seasons with two fixtures still to play. The team got the surprise news on Saturday that nearest rivals Enfield Mercs lost a second straight game at the hands of Cambridge Cats on Friday night, which would ensure them the title, however they travelled up to Cambridge Cougars on Sunday shorthanded and still delivered a convincing 19 point victory despite being without both Craig and James Tye for the match, and having another of their starters (Rafe Abrook) recovering from a stomach virus.

Exercising caution, Coach Rossington started Ash Whipman ahead of Abrook, and the team started brightly jumping out to a 19 – 10 lead in the first quarter as guard Steve Groom and centre Chris Whybrow did most of the damage. The second quarter saw Cougars pull out a 12 – 0 run to go up 25 – 19, before the defence was changed and Cougars shooters were kept in check. Abrook managed to hit a couple of jump shots to chip away at the lead and the half ended with Luton down 29 – 30.

The second half started well for the visitors as they ran off the first 7 points of the half with Jon Gill and Jock Mackay playing great defence, by getting their hands on loose Cambridge passes. Midway through the period Cougars shot themselves back into the match through the hot hand of Lee Browne, but again Luton finished the quarter strongly to open the gap back up to 49 – 41.

Stizz puts on the afterburners

The final period saw Luton continue to draw fouls on the Cambridge players, fouling 2 of them out and ran the quarter out as convincing winners 70 – 51. Steve Groom top scored for Fliers with 23pts with Abrook and Whybrow adding 16 a piece. Second team guard Lewis Palmer was also able to get some run and make a couple of free throws and contribute to the victory.

The win extends G-Casino Luton Fliers league win streak to 11 straight. Having lost their opening fixture back in early October, the team have won every league game since. Abrook summarizes the team’s accomplishments this season so far, “We’re really proud of ourselves for coming back and winning the title again this season, having been pipped to the post last year. We’ve been shorthanded for many games, yet the quality of our team with the addition of Jon Gill has really shone through. We hope to use our #1 seed in the playoffs to progress through to the final, and hopefully win that too.”

G-Casino Luton Fliers 1 took two more big steps towards the Herts Premier League title this weekend, with victories at home against Cambridge Cougars on Friday and away at Houghton Regis Raiders on the Sunday. The first victory was as close a game as you could expect with Fliers escaping with a 1 point (74 – 73) victory at the buzzer as centre Rafe Abrook tipped in Steve Groom’s missed jump shot as time expired. Abrook, Jock Mackay and Jon Gill did most of the damage from close range by scoring 20, 19 and 14pts respectively. The game also marked point guard James Tye’s return from a knee injury that kept him sidelined for 2 months.

In the fixture at Houghton Regis the battle of local rivals started out in favour of Luton with Abrook doing much of the damage inside in the early going en route to 19 first half points, courtesy of dunks, layups and hitting 11 out of 11 free throws. A halftime lead of 41 – 32 was then hauled back by Houghton Regis to within 2pts halfway through the third quarter, before Luton guard Craig Tye began heating up and a big team effort saw Luton stretch the lead back to 25pts late in the fourth quarter. Steve Groom also had a strong game before foul trouble forced him to the bench, and Jon Gill played his customary tough defence throughout. The game ended 86 – 65 to Luton with Abrook finishing with 30pts and Groom and C.Tye scoring 19 and 14 respectively.

With news of a surprise Enfield Mercs defeat at Cambridge Cats on Sunday, Luton Fliers now need to win 1 of their final 2 games to secure their second title in 3 years, however both games are against tough teams away from home (Cougars and Ware Jokers).

Division One

Fliers 1 with their sponsor from G-Casino