18.11.2008 Shropshire Warriors U18  vs Birmingham Premier 57 : 60 (SURESHOT CUP 2ND RD)

 

Shropshire faced a tough challenge in the second round of the cup against the City of Birminghams premier league team after Masfield forfeited their first round game against the Warriors. There was a decent sized crowd which pumped up the Shropshire players and there was a good atmosphere for the game.

Shropshire played very well to start the game, not being intimidated by a very strong looking Birmingham squad. Ben Parry and Kendal Jones dominated Shropshire scoring for the whole game (23 and 20 respectively),but Shropshires other players struggled to find their offensive game. Shropshire drove hard to the Basket on every opportunity but the referees were letting the teams play physical making it hard for anyone driving in the paint.

Shropshire rebounded the ball quite well with Robbie and Kenny in double digits but Birmingham were getting far too many second chance opportunities which they were converting on. Shropshire Went into the fourth quarter down 2 points with momentum on Birminghams side.

The fourth quarter was fiercely contested with Birmingham extending their league. Shropshire just couldn't get any offensive movement and Birmingham were doing all they can to prevent guard Ben Parry from running the offence. Shropshire found themselves 5 points down when Ben Parry got fouled hard and was sent to the line, a Birmingham player then argued the call, getting himself a technical which gave Shropshire 4 free throws and possession. Shropshire only hit 2 of the free throws and had possession with 3 seconds left and 3 points down. However we couldn't score and lost by 3.

MVP was Kendal Jones who fought hard all game and kept us in it down the stretch.

	points	assists	rebounds	steals	blocks	charges drawn	FT att	FT made	Turnovers
Ben	23	6	6	1	0	0	5	2	1
Robbie	7	5	13	4	1	0	4	3	5
Jacob	0	1	3	0	0	0	2	0	1
Kenny	20	2	11	5	0	0	0	0	5
Shaun	2	1	3	1	1	0	2	0	2
John	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Sam T	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Sam	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Zach	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Phil	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Gaz	3	0	2	1	0	0	0	0	2