Super Saturday for Myerscough Basketball

Myerscough’s under 18’s kicked off their National Cup campaign with a hard fought victory over local rivals Preston’s College. Helped by 33 points from Alex Roberts and 15 from Ryan Knowles, Myerscough led by as many as 19 at the beginning of the third before a spirited fight back from the visiting side saw the score narrow to just 4 points one minute into the final period.

Smart play down the stretch and some clutch shots by Kyle Elly and Matthew Hodgkinson opened the lead back up to 11 with 4 minutes to play in the 4^th. Myerscough held their nerve and ran out with a 9 point victory, the final score 85 – 76.

Myerscough now face Cheshire Panthers in the next round and will, without doubt, be ready to make a push in the competition.

(25 – 19) (24 – 17) (18 – 25) (18 – 15)

Myerscough moved to 2 & 0 in Basketball England’s division four after a convincing 30 point victory over Leeds Tigers.

Myerscough started quickly running out to lead by 6 after 4 minutes as the visitors struggled to keep pace – Kiko Stavrev, back from a slight injury, broke up a mini revival from the experienced Leeds side halting a 6 point run with back to back buckets. Myerscough held a 5 point cushion after the first, 18 – 13.

 

Kiko Stavrev  with 15 points personal

 

A scrappy, low scoring second quarter saw the home side; despite excellent ball movement, struggle to knock down open shots. Youngster, Jordie Thomas who has been in excellent form was the bright spark of the period showing great maturity on both ends of the floor. A tip in from Emmanuel Kabengele ended the scoring, Myerscough with a 3 point lead going into the break, 29 – 26.

Myerscough’s raised the tempo in the third and for a team who have only been together for 3 weeks began to show true signs of promise, scoring from multiple positions and linking up for excellent defensive sequences. An Earl Russell jumper opened up a 10 point lead as time wound down on the quarter, Myerscough seemingly having established their offensive rhythm. (50 – 40)

 

Tadhg Hickey leading the break

 

The fourth quarter proved to be Myerscough’s strongest as they outscored the visitors 26 – 6. Leeds visibly worn down by the up-tempo style of play struggled to deal with the pace of the home side. Myerscough were ruthless in their approach forcing multiple stops whilst running the break effectively; Ireland U18’s Tadhg and Cian Hickey linked up well to push the lead out to 30 in what was a dominant quarter for Myerscough, the final score 76 – 46.

(18 – 13) (11 – 13) (21 – 14) (26 – 6)

Kiko Stavrev led the scoring with 15 points whilst adding 4 rebounds, Emmanuel Kabengele delivered a characteristic double, double with 12 points 10 boards, Earl Russell adding a season high 14 points.

Head Coach Neal Hopkins was happy with his team’s second half performance, ‘As a unit I thought we played far better after the break, we were a little sloppy in the first half but every minute is valuable, good or bad’ Hopkins added ‘I though Nils Ozolins was very good today, he chipped in with 6 assists at crucial times, I really want these guys to understand the importance of sharing the ball, Nils certainly did a great job of this today’.

Myerscough head to Liverpool next Saturday after a busy week of college fixtures including their first Elite Academy Basketball League (EABL) fixture against Birmingham Met on Wednesday (3pm tip at Myerscough).