Junior Men vs Lynx Cougars Lincoln 59 : 61

With a strong group of players and good height the Shropshire U18 men have high hopes for this years National league however things did not go as to play on the opening day of the new season. The Warriors entered their first match fully expecting a victory against a side they had beaten twice last year. Lincoln however turned up with some new players as well as a strong core from last year and were detirmined to leave TCAT with a win.

Lincoln started off playing in an agressive 2-3 zone and Shropshire struggled to run their offence properly and the game was tight in the first quarter. Shropshires guards Ben Parry and Jack Whitehead attempted to bring Lincoln out of their zone defence with 3-point shooting but the Linx players were scrappy and the Warriors had to fight hard for any basket they got. Big men Jacob, Kenny and Robbie were fighted hard for rebounds but Lincolns impressive captain, J.Akpoveta was grabbing every defensive rebound limiting shropshire to 1 shot on nearly every offence. Ben Parry however kept the Warriors in the game with an array of acrobatic fast break layups that the Linx just couldnt stop.

At half time Shropshire had the narrowest of leads and even though we did not play well the score was 34-33 going into the 3rd quarter.

In the second half it was much of the same with the lead being exchanged several times. Shaun, John and Phil all helped out the starting players in a srappy second half in which neither team could gain any real advantage. Shropshires offence was decent and we didnt have much trouble scoring, the warrirors main problem was stopping Lincolns star player. With size, athleticism and quickness it would take a team effort to stop him and Shropshire didnt really start doing this until it was too late.

At the end of the game Shropshie was down 2 points and Robbie Smith was at the line with less than 5 seconds left in the game. After missing the first free throw it was only logical for Robbie to miss the 2nd and hope for an offensive rebound, which the Warriors couldnt get and Linx won by only 2 points.

The game was lost down to poor execution of what coach Dietrich wanted out of his players and more hustle being displayed by the Linx players. Shropshire however cant let this set back ruin what could be a great season. With a strong team and a good work ethic being shown in training the Warriors just need to now transfer that onto the court come gameday.

MVP goes to Jamie Line for great coaching.... but if one of the players had to get MVP it would be Ben Parry. Ben really showed his speed and finishing today with some impressive drives to the basket. Along with good 3-point shooting ben had a great offensive game. He also lead by example on occasion on defence by playing scrappy, in your face defence forcing some steals and fast breaks. Ben ended with 33 points and has something to build upon for the rest of the season.

All in all a disappointing first game of the season but the team must move forward and keep improving..