U16 Premier Boys Sting Shoeburyness; Advance to next Round
London Youngbloods Lions – 127
Shoeburyness Scorpions – 20
London Youngbloods Lions Under 16 Premier Boys returned to action for the first time this season to St Angela’s as they faced off against Shoeburyness Scorpions in the Basketball England National Cup – Round 2 with both sides looking forward to advance to the next round.
Marka Sy got proceedings off early for the home side converting from close range. Richmond Ariyo continued what Sy started and as he drove to the basket and was fouled converting both free throws from the charity stripe with Laja Ogidan adding to the quick scores as the Home Side stormed ahead to a 21-2 score midway through the first quarter Emmanuel Oleh was introduced to play and continued to follow the precedent set by his teammates scoring two baskets back to back. Dalton Bally continued the onslaught for the Youngbloods Lions with Franklin Agu and Nathan Kataranka scoring the final efforts of the first quarter to lead 37-10 at the end of the first.
Much of the same continued as Youngbloods Lions continued to rotate through their team. Under 14 Joshua Morgan was introduced in to play and converted two back to back baskets along with Alejandro Diaz as they dominated proceedings in the second quarter also. Defensive intensity remained throughout as Alex Distras converted 4 points in close succession through via silky play. Youngbloods Lions ahead 71-16 at the midway point
Much of the same continued in the second half as Nathan Mburu and Titus Warari joined up well and took their chances to convert. Great defensive intensity from the outset of the third quarter gave Youngbloods Lions a 29-0 scoreline in the third and this continued in the fourth as they kept Shoeburyness to 4 points in the final period. Youngbloods Lions won 127-20 and advance to the next round of the Basketball England U16 National Cup.
Coach Aaron Senior “This was a good performance from us, after a tough couple of weeks and gave us valuable court time across the board and enabled us to work on many facets to our game. We must learn and take everything from all game situations.”
