U15 Boys Match Reports

Sat 15th November 2008

With the Adams Newport quartet of Aquile Smith, Steven Byrne, Michael Walsh, and George Edmonds unavailable due to Rugby commitments, Aidan Reynolds unavailable due to being on stage and Patric Morkot sidelined by injury, it was a new look U15 Squad which made the long journey to Watford to take on the hosts Hertfordshire Warriors and top of the table Derby Trailblazers at the Parmiters School. Also unavailable on the day were Head Coach Shaun Reynolds and Assistant Coach Don Smith

These absences meant that none of the starters from the squad’s first game of the season, a heavy loss to City of Birmingham, made the trip South, with the notable exception of Patric, who travelled as assistant coach and statistician together with father and Team Manager Gordon and stand in coach Tom Sunley..

The trip gave the chance for a number of regular squad members to stake a claim for starting slots in future games, and also gave the opportunity for Josh Game, Jo Austin, Tom Blakemore and Jonas Dieterich to show what they could do. For Josh, Jo and Jonas this was their first taste of U15 National League Basketball.

Game 1

Result Hertfordshire Warriors 70 Shropshire 42

 

First Quarter

The first period started with Hertfordshire going into an early 6 – 2 lead. However, our guys fought back strongly to be just 3 down at the buzzer 13 to 10. The worrying thing for us was that Herts’ star forward Umpr Stuart, a lightning quick left-hander, was going to be hard for us to control

Second Quarter

The threat posed by Stuart became even clearer in the second period. Although play was generally very evenly contested, and we lost that period by just 5, Stuart had another 9 points to take his first half total to 16. Whilst Stuart found scoring easy our likely game winner Peter Ashton found the going tough against a tight Herts’ defense. He was restricted to just 4 points in a frustrating first half. Fortunately, guards Tom Blakemore and Ryan Harper hit 2 each and big men Jacob Bates (4), Martin Jackson (4), and James Bird (2) all chipped in to keep the score ticking over. Pride of place, however, went to rookie Josh Game who came into the game at the end of the first quarter, worked incredibly hard and fully deserved his 6 points by the break.

Third Quarter

The third period started with us making a real push to get back on par with our opposition. Jacob and Peter both hit early twos before Alistair Sadler proved what a danger he can be with his tremendous speed. He scored three great individual baskets to pull the deficit back to just four. Sadly, Stuart added another 8 to his mounting total, to open the gap back to 9.

Fourth Quarter

The start of the fourth quarter saw Coach Sunley endeavouring to give more court time to those players who had less time in the first three periods. The result was that despite our valiant efforts the hosts were able to pile on 27 whilst we could only hit 8 in reply. The game was brought to an end by young Jonas Dieterich who hit a long two for his first points in the National League on the buzzer.

Summary

Though the gap between the two teams at the buzzer was a disappointing 28 our overall performance was far from disappointing. All our big men had contributed significantly. Martin had hit 6 points and pulled down 10 big rebounds. Jake had hit 6 and pulled down 4 rebounds. Though being far from his best Peter ended as our top scorer with 8 points and had 5 rebounds and 4 steals to his credit and though only scoring two James Bird had a very sound game at both ends of the court. Tom and Ryan showed a lot of quality in the guard spots, each leading our break well and setting up our half court offence. Alistair had been a consistent threat with his pace and Jonus and Jo both fitted in very well on their debuts. However, our undoubted MVP in this game was Josh Game. In his first start Josh showed tremendous commitment to the team’s cause. In addition to his 6 points he had 5 rebounds and 4 steals. This was a great performance from someone with so little experience.

Game 2

Result Shropshire 34 Derby Trailblazers 28

 

First Quarter

With the Trailblazers’ having started the season unbeaten and having scored very heavily in their previous games every suggestion was that we were in for a very tough time. This was particularly so with us having little time to recover from the first game’ exertions. However, ir was apparent from the start of the first period that our guys were not prepared to give the Trailblazers an inch. With our defence being really tough and with Ryan, Martin, Peter and Jake each hitting 2 each we were tied at 8 each at the end of the period.

Second Quarter

Our defence got even tougher in the second period and with our guards restricting the opposition’s penetration and our big guys pulling down the rebounds. Our defensive quality enabled us to break effectively. Ryan scored two great individual baskets. Peter got two nice baskets with short range jumpers .Tom hit a super long 2 and James a well deserved put back. The result of all this hard work was that we went into the break up by 7 at 20 to 13.

Third Quarter

Derby threatened to come back at us in the third quarter but our defence held strong. Peter, James and Alistair each added two points and Josh came good again, finishing the period with two baskets to send us into the last period up by 9.

Fourth Quarter

With Ryan adding another excellent basket, and James putting back yet another rebound (he ended the game with an amazing 15) to take our lead to 11 within 2 minutes of the restart our bench players were given the chance to close out the game. Sadly, panic started to set in as Derby pulled back 5 points. Our inexperience showed as we failed to carry out the Coach’s instruction to run controlled 24 second offences. However, we never really looked like losing and the final buzzer was greted by rapturous celebrations from the players, the Coach, the Team Manager and the Statistician.

Summary

This was an outstanding and well-deserved victory for a group of players who all gave their very best all at both ends. Key statistics are that we pulled down 42 rebounds and had 12 steals. Our scorers were captain and MVP Ryan (8), James and Peter (6 apiece), Josh (4) and Martin, Tom, Jake and Alistair (2 each). Despite tremendous efforts in the last 4 minutes Jo just failed to get his name on the score-sheet.

Final Though On The Day

Stand In Coach Sunley and Team Manager Morkot wish to thank all the players for making what was a very long day immensely rewarding. Everyone bonded extremely well as the day wore on and the collective spirit so clearly seen on the court, on the bench and in the mini bus on the way to and back from Watford was simply fantastic.