Myerscough fall short in the National Shield

With a place in the next round of Basketball England’s National Shield up for grabs Myerscough welcomed local rivals Preston’s College in what was always going to be a fiery encounter.

The away side hit the ground running, exploding to a 10 – 0 start as Myerscough struggled with Preston’s energy and unorthodox style - back to back buckets from Nils Ozolins steadied the home side as Myerscough put together a 17 – 4 run to end the quarter. Having seemingly ridden the energetic start from their counterparts Myerscough led after the first 17 – 14.

The second quarter followed suit as Myerscough asserted themselves on the game – the home side capitalised on mistakes from the visitors and an Emmanuel Kabengele brace from the line sealed a 16 – 3 run which in truth should have been enough to blow the game open. Myerscough failure to convert wide open shots gave Preston’s College a glimmer of hope which they capitalised on, converting 5 points straight to bring the game to 9 points at the end of the half, Myerscough leading 38 – 29.

The third quarter was a scrappy affair as both sides tried to gain the upper hand. Preston’s College, with renewed energy did all they could to break the play up and make it difficult for the home side to establish any rhythm. Myerscough saw their scoring stifle as they once again lacked execution on the offensive end; the visitors on the other hand had no such problems in finding their rhythm, exploiting poor defence from the home side. Despite a poor quarter Myerscough held a slim lead going into the fourth, the quarter ending 57 – 53.

An 8 point swing at the beginning of the fourth gave Preston’s College their first lead since the first quarter. Myerscough struggled to find tempo and defensive lapses gave Preston opportunity to convert with relative ease. With the visitors leading by 8 with 3 minutes to go a 10 – 2 surge from Myerscough levelled the score at 70. The visitors then nailed a triple answered by a Tadhg Hickey deep two to see a timeout called with 16 seconds left, the score 72 – 73. With Myerscough in the bonus Preston’s College found themselves at the line knocking down both to open up a 3 point gap. A quick offence from Myerscough saw a cheap turnover, a subsequent foul took Preston back to the line where they split, hitting the first missing the second. As time wound down Alex Roberts who had been exceptional for Myerscough nailed from deep to bring the score back to 1 point. With 2.3 seconds left Preston’s College were back on the line this time missing both unfortunately not giving Myerscough enough time to find a final shot. The final score 75 – 76 to Preston’s College.

Coach Neal Hopkins commented after the game ‘We showed in spells that we can be a good team, but on the whole that was a poor performance by us. We didn’t adjust well and demonstrated great naivety, all we can do is reflect on the mistakes we made today and re-group’.

Myerscough are now back to league action, taking on Leeds Tigers next Saturday (3:30 tip at SANAC – Preston) Chris Bwana, Montel Dennis, Kiko Stavrev and David Walsh are expect to return for the home side.