The rise of Myerscough through MABL competitions this year has been rapid; for a programme which is only 7 months old MABL has provided a great platform for our junior players who range in age from 16 to 19 to gain vital senior level experience, the cup competition has been the pinnacle of this.
After a hard fought cup campaign in which Myerscough basketball academy who play under partner club Preston Pride’s banner had knocked out teams from all divisions faced off against club rivals Preston Pride 1, who are currently sitting top in the MABL premier league. With both teams knowing all the finer details on one another the game promised to be an interesting one.
The final held at UCLan’s Sir Tom Finney sports centre provided the perfect environment for the all Preston affair.
Phil Hargreaves opened the scoring for Pride 1 and quickly found range to add another two points, Andre Gayle responded for Myerscough netting from deep – in a quarter that was not pretty to watch both team scrapped for points and traded either way. Pride 1 opened up a 5 point cushion at the midpoint in the quarter before Connor Tuxford converted 2 free throws to bring the score back to within 2. Myerscough looked to have found their touch as the time wound down hitting in quick succession to bring the score to 23 – 24 in favour of Pride 1.
With both teams looking more settled the 2nd quarter scoring was opened by Montel Dennis of Myerscough. A run from Myerscough saw Pride 1 slip back to 9 point deficit and with Myerscough turning the screw and applying extended pressure Pride 1 almost buckled, up stepped Jonny Graham who halted the Myerscough run with back to back triples at a crucial time. Myerscough continued to probe defensively not allowing the opposition to settle into their offense with the game on a knife edge the half finished 42 – 40 in Myerscough’s favour.
Pride punched out a 7 point run to open the 3rd, Graham Holland and Alex Hodgson doing the damage, this inspired Pride 1 and with back to back threes from Harry Beenham - Myerscough were forced to use a timeout; with nerves settled and defense in mind Myerscough got the stops they deserved and attempted to chip away at Pride’s 11 point advantage. Andre Gayle repeatedly got to the line but struggled to convert from the charity stripe, Myerscough missed 7 free throws straight, despite this they managed to pull the lead back only trailing by 3 going into the final period.
A slow start by the young team saw Pride once again put together a 11 point run, this within the first 4 minutes of the quarter put Pride 1 in the driving seat, Chris Bwana who had been a revelation for Myerscough pulled back 4 points to make it an 8 point game with 5 minutes to play. Pride 1 made their experience count and knocked down two quick buckets to extend their lead to 12 with 3 minutes left – this margin proved too much for the battling Myerscough side. With the benched emptied and time expiring Pride 1 took the title 73 – 57, the fourth quarter proving fruitless for Myerscough who only mustered 5 points to Pride’s efficient 17.
In what was a hard fought fixture that saw two top teams test each other and was a great advert for the Manchester Area basketball league Pride 1’s age and experience told and they rightly ran out victors.
Chris Bwana hit 14 for Myerscough with Montel Dennis adding a cool 10
Phil Hargreaves picked up the MVP honours after an impressive performance for Pride 1 netting 16 points Graham Holland poured 23 for Pride.
Coach Neal Hopkins said this after the game “both teams fully deserved to be in this final, on this occasion Pride 1 deserved to win – they are a great team who would do very well in National league, I can’t complain at the result at all. Our young lads have come a long way this season and will learn from this game, which is very important to the ethos of our programme. Hats off to the organisers, especially Bob McGilvary for putting on a great event – it was definitely a show case for the talent in MABL”
