Recap
Youngbloods Under 16 Boys continued their home run of games as they squared off against last year’s rivals, London Greenhouse Pioneers, whom they shared close games with last season. Following on from a good team performance last time out, the home team were looking to continue their perfect run in the league so far and won the opening tip off which enabled them to score the first 5 points of the game as they looked an attacking threat early on.
The Pioneers replied with 2 points of their own, however good runs in transition from Oscar Turner gave him 4 quick points as Newham began to find their groove, whilst Ify Chuks began to dominate the boards early on as he converted 2 changes of his own. Joel Osei’s strong drive to the basket where he was fouled allowed him to coolly convert two free throws from the line forcing the visiting side to take a time out. However Jonathan Ragasa silenced the visiting side straight away with a shot from beyond the 3 point arc as this established a 15 point lead early on. The introduction of Nathan Moyo provided further spark to the energised home side as he dominated the inside, blocking the other team at will and found his way to the basket with Greenhouse fouling him twice in the space of 30 seconds, with Alfie Murray doing the same thing promptly after, as Moyo closed out the quarter scoring before the buzzer as Newham Youngbloods went into the first quarter with a 30-16 lead.
Youngbloods target was to keep London Greenhouse at bay and have a good defensive performance in the second quarter, and it was Rayon Brown and Jelani Watson-Gayle’s who stepped up early on as they combined for 16 points hitting shots from downtown as well and getting to the basket, they found ways to the basket for themselves and others as they controlled the game for the home team with a trey from Watson-Gayle giving Youngbloods a 30point lead midway through the second quarter. Strong attacking play from Aaron Martin as he bossed his way to the basket and provided the impetus to complete the Youngbloods best quarter this season as they took it 37-10, going into the half time break 67-26.
With the lead at half time, Coach Aaron Senior urged his side to continue to be disciplined defensively and to maintain the intensity set throughout the game, Martin continued playing aggressively along with Watson-Gayle to begin the third quarter with an 8-0 run in their favour. Mark Sotto after a frustrating first quarter found the net twice in quick succession and a flurry of threes were to follow as the home side began to find their range, as Under 15 debutant Ronan Rimando was introduced into play. Ragasa started of the proceedings from downtown hitting back to back three point shots, swiftly followed by Rimando as he converted for the trey; Sotto joined the raining of three point shots before Ragasa netted the last three of the quarter as Youngbloods led 99-46 at the end of the third quarter, one point away from the century mark.
Martin started off the fourth quarter as he did the third, as the under 16 boys went past the century mark for the first time in league play this season, and the onslaught continued as Watson-Gayle and Brown joined in the action also converting their chances from beyond the arc as Sotto drained a pair of threes also. As Youngbloods closed out the game with a pair of clutch free-throws by Brown as he was fouled attacking the basket. As Youngbloods emphatically won the game 121-65 and remained top of the South Premier Division with a 15 win, 0 Loss record.
Coach Aaron Senior “This was a very good performance from us, one of our best to date, the team built upon their good team performance in our previous game and made this game one to remember. Tougher challenges lay ahead, and we got to continue this momentum to close out the regular season.