Weekend Results 27/28 September 2014
The first of many busy weekends for Youngbloods Basketball Club started off with local derbies against NASSA for our U13 and U14 Boys with the weekend culminating with Under 18 Boys second game of the Season against the established Reading Rockets.
Saturday 27th September 2014
Under 13 Boys
NASSA 56 Vs 74 Youngbloods Nitro
The start of the 2014/15 season saw Youngbloods face NASSA in an eagerly anticipated fixture at UEL Sports Dock. It was a new experience for many of the boys playing at such a high level and with home fans close to 100 adding to their early nerves.
The game eventually got on the way after a short delay with Youngbloods winning the tip and getting early baskets from star performer Lattrell Marson. He continued to dominate proceedings in the first quarter scoring a few more baskets putting NASSA on the back foot 7-0 and setting the pace for the remainder of the game. Things got shaky when the opponent’s mounted a comeback backed by the roaring home fans but were slowly silence by easy baskets from Franklin Agu (who dominated the battle of boards with 19 rebounds) and Gustas Skorobogatovas joining the club this season and is already making a big impact. An impressive display in the first quarter saw Youngbloods snatch the quarter (14-10).
The second quarter proved to be a thriller as key player Alex Distras sprung to life and started showing the talent and quality he possessed as he wowed the crowd with dazzling displays of lay-ups and shots scoring 9 of the game high 25 points. Youngbloods proved too strong for NASSA in the 2nd Quarter with the main highlight coming from Ja’iden Christian spectacular And1 basket helping Youngbloods to a commanding lead (36-21) to end the Half.
NASSA refused to bow down in the 3rd quarter as they had an (8-0) early run catching the victors by surprise. Momentum seemed to be swinging towards the home team until Coach Caroline called a time-out to settle their heads. Nathan Kataraka led the way driving through the heart of NASSA defense linking well with Marcus King-Scully and forcing the opponent into early foul trouble. Trading of baskets led to the quarter being close and Youngbloods edging it by only 3 points.
Youngbloods maintained their lead in the fourth quarter to the disappointment of the home support and with a beautiful inbound play finished by little Mo King-Scully helped secure the victory (74-56)
Coach “ The game was played at a high tempo with both teams giving it their all. Very delighted with the win even more so that every player got on the score sheet. I know we have a long season ahead of us and we must not get complacent. Overall glad the first game is out of the way with a positive performance and well deserved win”
Newham Youngbloods Acers 42 Vs 98 NASSA
A tough start to the season for the Acers as they faced the national champions at St Angela’s. After narrowly missing the playoffs last season Youngbloods were determined to start fresh with a strong performance.
The game started with heavy full court pressure form NASSA forcing early turnovers from the home team. This was a continued pattern throughout the first quarter as the visitors took a commanding lead. Youngblood fought back with strong baskets form new boy Great Igbinomwanhia and point guard Simon Torres helped close the deficit (31-17). 2nd Quarter saw a similar pattern with more pressure form the visitors, Youngbloods heads were down until the introduction of Nicola Amakye putting in a defensive effort and Alex Distras scoring some though baskets.
Youngbloods fought hard throughout the 3rd Quarter but couldn’t match the strength of the visitors. There were positive performances from Alex Eruteyan, Stfan Bastian-Pulle and Diminykas Pavilonis. Fatigue played a big role in the final quarter and ending any hopes of a come back handing Youngbloods their first home loss of the season.
Coach “ Hard game to start the season, my boys fought hard and showed tenacity throughout. There were some negatives but plenty positives to take on to the next game”
