# London United Defeated; U16s Win Away

- Link: https://www.newhamyoungbloods.co.uk/2015/12/london-united-defeated-u16s-win-away/
- Published: 2015-12-21T17:21:46+00:00
- Author: admin

Newham Youngblood’s Under 16s returned to action this weekend as they travelled 
away to London United Harefield Academy in Middlesex looking to finish 2015 on a
positive note following their win against Peckham Pride.

Harefield won the tip off and scored the opening points of the game, quickly countered
at the other end of the floor by **Laja Ogidan** as Newham scored their first points
of the game, **Termon Serrant** quickly followed suit as he opened his account early
on with a penetrating drive to the basket. **Titas Zydelis** added in from close
range before adding another three points as he knocked down a jump shot from beyond
the arc giving Youngblood’s and early 9 to 4-point lead midway through the first.**
David OIupitan** followed suit as he knocked down a trey ball of his own as Youngblood’s
began to set their mark on the game early on. A run of 12 points to Harefield’s 
4 as Serrant joined in with the three-point party and Ogidan again causing problems
for the home side from close range as Newham closed out the first quarter 21-11.

**Devante Abana-Odita** put the first quarter frustration behind him as he scored
the first points of the second quarter followed by **Alex Distras** who also joined
the parade of three point shots scored by the visitors as Newham raced to a 15-point
lead. London United fired back with 2 back to back three balls with **Jonathan Odur**
break the run with a fast break score. A foul by Newham gave London United two threes
which they converted to shorten the visitors lead to 11 points midway through the
second period as Distras again came up clutch and converted from deep beyond the
arc to restore a great lead for the Newham side. Abana-Odita converted following
a rebound at the end of the quarter to Youngblood’s an 8 point lead heading in to
the half time break, 35-27.

Youngblood’s defence collapsed early on as London United found their groove coming
out with high intensity from the beginning of the third as they had a run of 10 
points to take their first lead of the game since the opening stages, as this forced
Coach **Aaron Senior** to take a time out to regroup his players. Great patient 
play exhibited by Guards Distras and Serrant enabled easy scores from Abana-Odita
on the inside as he scored the next six points for the visitors. Harefield again
managed to go on a run which lead to a tied game with four minutes to play in the
third stanza. A strong drive to the basket by David OIupitan forced Harefield to
foul as he cooly converted both shots from the charity stripe, which was again quickly
followed up by strong inside play from Abana-Odita. Abana-Odita and OIupitan would
combine to score the next 10 points for the Newham team as OIupitan ended proceedings
for the third quarter with another three point shot nailed from deep. Youngblood’s
going into the final quarter with a 9-point lead, 45-54.

Zydelis got proceedings under way for the away side yet again as the two sides traded
baskets for half of the final period before Youngbloods ramped up a gear again as
Ogidan playing full of confidence after his game winning score against Peckham in
the previous game converted the basket and and-1. Olupitan then camp up trumps with
another three point shot to restore Newham’s lead to 9 points, as great defence 
from **Shequell Roberts** lead to many easy baskets for his team as **Menelik Stanley**
scored in transition before great team play again gave a Olupitan a successful shot
from downtown. Ogidan and Stanley wrapped up proceedings for the visiting side with
4 straight points before the final Buzzer as Newham Youngblood’s finished with a
win in their final game of 2015, 60-74.

_“Happy to finish 2015 on a Positive Note, after many battles so far this year we
are now entering the second half of the season full of confidence and a lot to play
for in 2016, we shot the ball extremely well today and our ball movement was much
improved.”_ said Head Coach Aaron Senior