Wasps Feel The Heat In Season Finale

As visitors to SporTrades Report should know, we've been following the Hull Wasps basketball during the season. After a tough season Wasps have not let themselves down and finished fifth in the National League 4 North this year. After ending the season with a good run of results despite being short of players due to a fixture pileup and several players having work commitments the Wasps finished in a respectable sixth.

In their final encounter of the season, Chris McKenna's men travelled to the undefeated NBL Division Four champions Huddersfield Heat their toughest game of the season, but came up short last week 96-84.

Huddersfield were again led by the incredible shooting talents of Jason Swaine, who scored 42 points for the hosts, which is some feat for a player at any level in Basketball. Suprisingly it was the Wasps who led at half time 46-45 in a thrilling end to end encounter. And the Wasps trailed by just a single point well into the final quarter until the pivotal moment of the game.

Forward Rob Birchmore, who had performed immensely in restricting Swaine’s offensive output to 23 so late in the game, was called for a foul on the former Sheffield Sharks guard, despite receiving what looked like a clear offensive foul.

His brief remonstration with the referee at the apparent elbow earned him a harsh technical foul, his fifth personal, forcing him to leave the game. Swaine hit all four free-throws the men in grey had gifted him. And, without the tough Scot as his shadow, he proceeded to swish three three-pointers in quick succession to leave the visitors suddenly staring down an eight-point deficit.

It was part of a run that saw him score the Heat’s final 19 points after that turning point, allowing his title-winners to coast to a comfortable-looking victory that, in reality, was anything but.

Captain Jamie Goodwin led the visitors with 22 points, 15 coming in the second quarter, and shooting guard Adrian Blatherwick hit 21, including five three-pointers.
The team could have finished fifth had Bury Blue Devils beaten Team Durham by 23 or more for, but sadly the boys from up north won, knocking the Wasps down to sixth. SportTrades would like to thank Geoff Brown of the Hull Wasps for providing us with results and news to do with the team and we look forward to hearing from the team next season!