Blow for Bears as Titans end their play-off dream

WARWICKSHIRE Bears narrowly missed out on their dream of reaching the national play-offs for the third consecutive season following a narrow 56-49 defeat to London Titans.

In a nail biting encounter that went all the way to the final buzzer, Titans held out to finish in second place in First Division South. “We’re really disappointed to lose out,” said Bears’ coach, Tom Masterson.

“But on reflection, they should be proud of what they have achieved this season and how well they have done in their first year in this division. For them to be disappointed in not making the play-offs shows the ambition of these players.

“We will come back next season better and stronger and hopefully make another push for the top spot and play-off.”

From the tip-off, Titans came out strongly, breaking through the Bears' defence and making their opportunities count, while the Bears found it hard to follow through on their chances to equalise.

Titans took a strong 15-8 lead into the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter, the Bears were able to start making some inroads to the Titans' lead with Ben Haigh and Jacob Robinson starting to find their shooting range.

Titans were able to match the Bears' scoring and went into half-time 31-21 ahead.

The third quarter was once a close one, with the Bears unable to claw back any of the Titans' early success and both teams went basket-for-basket to set up a thrilling last quarter, with Titans 47-39 ahead.

The final quarter was a nail-biting end to the high stakes game, with Bears making once last change to try and get in touch with the Titans.

They managed to get within four points before the experienced Titans team were able to shut them out once more.

Warwickshire Bears are next in action when the Bears 2 go to the national play-offs on the weekend of 2nd and 3rd June at Worcester Arena.