Myerscough slump to Elite 8 exit.

The Elite 8 of the EABL proved to be the end of the road for Myerscough’s first competitive season as they squared off against the highly successful South Gloucester and Stroud College (SGS) who carried an impressive undefeated record in all competitions claiming two national titles along the way.

Andre Gayle opened the scoring for Myerscough, hitting from deep. Tamas Okros replied with a three of his own after an SGS score inside to give the home side a 2 point lead after 3 minutes. Points were traded throughout the quarter as both teams sized one another up, neither really taking a grip of the game. SGS closed the scoring to take a two point lead after the first 18 – 16.

A mini burst for SGS opened up the second as they took advantage of poor defensive rotations and a lack of concentration from Myerscough. SGS pushed the lead out to 10 with 5 minutes played as Myerscough struggled to find their touch, missing relatively easy looks around the ring, a timeout was called by the travelling side as they found themselves in a scoring rut. Quick scores from Trevor Samuel and Montel Dennis pulled Myerscough back to within 6, only to be responded by an SGS triple. Back to back threes from the home side split up an 8 point Myerscough run to end the half SGS up  41 – 31.

Once again SGS opened the scoring after the break, and as Myerscough’s offensive struggles continued the home side extended their lead out to 22 midway through the third. From this point onward SGS didn’t look back. Myerscough could only convert for 7 point in a quarter that needed to be far more productive offensively and despite doing a relatively effective job defensively could not translate any of that conviction onto the offensive end. The score out at 20 after the 3^rd 58-38.

Into the 4^th and despite Myerscough’s best efforts early on the lid remained on the ring, in what was a low scoring and uninspiring quarter of basketball Myerscough strung together an 8 point burst to drag the score to 63-46 but the poor third proved too much of a hurdle and as time expired the final score finished 66 – 47 to SGS who advanced to the EABL final 4’s.

Montel Dennis finished up with a game high 11 points 5 boards for Myerscough, Trevor Samuel 9 points 3 boards, Emmanuel Kabengele with a respectable 7 points 12 boards. Tamas Okros led the way with 12 points for SGS Deane Williams chipped in with 10 points.

On the loss Coach Neal Hopkins had this to say ‘it was a poor performance from us for sure, I was really only interested in the guys doing themselves justice because they deserved to be playing at this stage of the competition, unfortunately we weren’t able to do that. We made way too many unforced errors and had a terrible day offensively – a 3 week break between fixtures certainly didn’t help. I wish SGS all the luck in the semi-final they are a well-coached, disciplined team who have developed a winning culture’

Hopkins added ‘it has been a remarkable first year for us, we have come from absolutely nowhere and have laid some solid foundations. For the record I would like to thank all of those behind the scenes who make the EABL possible it has been a pleasure to be a part of’

Myerscough will now welcome Coach Tony Garbelotto for 6 weeks of positional specific training – pre-season is well upon us!