Myerscough show promise in defeat

Sunday saw Myerscough head to Manchester to take on division one’s Manchester Magic in Basketball England’s National cup. Manchester a senior team three divisions above the young Myerscough side were resounding favourites coming into the fixture.

Myerscough started out the first quarter nervously as the hosts punched out an 18 – 4 start, led by former BBL player Nathan Schall. As Magic rotated Myerscough began to settle and find rhythm, new boy Joao Paiva carving his way to the ring helped sparked a revival for the travelling side who had trailed by 17 with 4 minutes left in the quarter. Back to back triples for Myerscough carved the deficit to 9, and as time expired on the quarter Cian Hickey followed up an Owen Stanley free throw to bring the game to 6 points (30 – 24).

 

Behind the scene, half time team talk.

Both teams traded during the first 4 minutes of the 2^nd, Earl Russell finished a tough move to decrease the home team’s advantage to just 4 points (38 – 34). Magic then strung together a 17 – 1 run to lead 55 – 35 with 30 seconds left as Myerscough went through an offensive slump. A final mini push from Myerscough cut the lead to 17 as the first half wound down (56 – 39).

Myerscough came out after the break with aggression and battled hard against the experienced Manchester side. With both teams fielding their starting 5 Myerscough looked to take Magic away from their rhythm, doing so bringing the home sides lead down to 13 after 3 minutes.  Both teams traded buckets in what was a very stop start quarter due to multiple foul calls and with time winding down Magic’s zone defence stifled Myerscough allowing Magic to extend their lead to 22 at the end of the 3^rd (73 – 51).

The 4^th mirrored the 3^rd with both teams struggling to find rhythm. Myerscough found plenty of scoring opportunities but struggled with execution, this was especially the case from downtown as the away side only converted on 3 of 20 attempts. Myerscough continued to play without fear but ultimately were beaten by the class and experience of the home side – the final score 85 – 63 to Manchester Magic.

Coach Neal Hopkins was full of praise for his young side after the game ‘I though the guys did a great job, we purely wanted a strong performance and to give these young men a chance to express themselves, with 11 of the 12 players seeing 10 plus minutes of playing time we have certainly achieved this’. Hopkins added, ‘I truly hope Magic go far in the competition and have a great season, they treated us with great hospitality and demonstrated their class throughout the fixture’.

Scoring breakdown; (30 -24) (26 – 15) (17 – 12) (12 – 12)

Stats can be found Here

Manchester Evening News match report Here

Myerscough will now have their first week of full practice before they take on Preston’s College in the National Trophy on Sunday (28^that SANAC, Preston. 2:30 tip off).