Napier victorious

Edinburgh Napier overcame some early jitters to dominate proceedings at The Pleasance on Wednesday night, running away with things through their tight defence, which allowed them countless easy buckets in transition.

Edinburgh dominated the early exchanges, though, taking advantage of the space that Napier’s zone defence afforded them. David Grimsey, twice, and Nicki Gromotka, hit from long range as Edinburgh opened up an 11-2 lead. The lead jumped out to 17-7 with 4:20 to go in the first, as Michael McLeod hit a jump shot before Napier rallied to close the quarter on a 7-3 run, with the score 20-14 to the home side after ten minutes.

Napier maintained their good form at the start of the second, taking the lead for the first time at 24-25 with 3:51 left in the half. Napier were getting to the basket with ease in the second period and knocking down their shots from the outside too. The visitors completely dominated the second quarter, taking it 19-6 to open up a 26-33 lead at the half.

The second half was characterised by a succession of lay-ups from the Napier point guard. Poor offensive execution from Edinburgh presented the visitors with countless fast break opportunities, which they were more than happy to accept. Edinburgh tightened up their offence, scoring 14 points, but allowed Napier to help themselves to a massive twenty-five point haul in the third quarter alone, as the visitors stretched their lead to 40-58.

Edinburgh opened the 4th quarter with a flurry of baskets from Grimsey, McLeod and Barlow, and had clawed the Napier advantage back to twelve points after less than two minutes of play. Napier’s Neil Duff then came up with a big move inside to stop the run, and although Edinburgh immediately hit back through Aaron Wilson’s three-pointer, and Iain Rae’s lay up on the fast break, they were unable to find a solution to the constant strong drives of Napier’s point guard, who was able to get to the basket and finish almost at will.

Edinburgh took a time-out down 15 with 3:28 left to play, but no real run materialised and Napier saw out the remaining time relatively comfortably, as Edinburgh never got closer than 15. Edinburgh were impotent offensively, and seemed to forget about team play, trying to make up the deficit as individuals and presenting Napier with easy baskets as a result.

Napier ran out winners by a score of 64-81 and can be delighted at the level of performance they put up in front of a large number of 'travelling' fans in this local derby match. Napier played with the intensity one would associate with a derby match, while Edinburgh fell flat after a strong opening spell, and will have to do better in the remainder of the season.