Storm breeze past Bristol as Baker claims first win

Tom Baker picked up his first win as Hemel Storm head coach on Saturday as his side eased past Bristol Flyers II. 

The Flyers are struggling - winless so far this season and bottom of the table - but Storm remained professional to pick up their first victory in nine games. It was a solid team performance at the SGS College, with the whole squad playing their part in the 90-52 triumph. 

It was another good evening for Kai Walker, who starred with 17 points and 14 rebounds. His tenacity and hard work have helped him make a fine impression since moving to Hemel in the summer, and he continued his solid start here. 

Veron Eze was thrown in from the start and worked hard in registering 13 points and providing an important physical presence, while captain Sam Newman controlled the game expertly. He had 10 points and another eight assists, furthering his reputation as the league’s premier playmaker.  

All ten men available to Baker troubled the scorers, with Darien Nelson-Henry still nursing an injury and Jarvis Chater busy helping the University of Hertfordshire Storm to an NBL Division Two win. 

Eze and Brayden Inger ensured it was the guests who got off to the flyer, combining to give them a 6-0 lead. The majority of their work was done in the first period, aided by an unanswered streak of 17 points. 

Three Newman free-throws began that run, with Matt Norman and Jack Burnell both connecting from long range as the lead grew to 20 - 29-9 the score. A Mergim Sokoli three ended the period - Storm’s by a landslide at 32-12. 

Their offence will grab the headlines, but determined work at the other end of the court set the foundations. They restricted the Flyers to 13 in the second quarter, giving up only 25 points across the first half, and that saw them head into the break 54-25 to the good. 

Any faint hopes of a Flyers comeback were extinguished by seven straight Storm points to begin the third period, and the hosts never looked like working their way back into the contest. 

The difference was 35 at the final break - 77-42 in Storm’s favour - allowing Baker to rotate his troops, somewhat taking the foot off the gas for the last 10 minutes. 

Both teams were waiting for the final buzzer to sound in a low scoring final period which Storm took 13-10, seeing them romp to a comfortable 90-52 win. 

It marks their fourth of the season and sees them retake 11th position in the table. They’ll be hoping to build on that as they attempt to mount a late playoff push. 

Next up they return to the StormDome to tackle Loughborough Riders next Saturday. Tickets for that one are available here. 

Written by Callum Humphrey