U15 Boys Basketball - County Champions

All Saints’ Academy hosted the U15 County finals on Tues 24th Jan. The semi-final featured ASA and St Peters, All Saints’ displayed a game of passing flair and powerful driving which tore holes in the St Peters defence. St Peters fought hard but found it difficult to cope with the intensity and pace of the game. Christian Lluisima and Tyrone Duffus competed to outscore each other and as a result were relentless in their approach to the game, the first half ended 26 -8 in favour of ASA. The second half saw the team rotate as we looked to develop different combinations in preparation for the final, the scores ticked over well and play seemed to improve with greater pace on the passes and increased screening and driving. The game ended 53-24 with ASA progressing to the final.

The other semi-final saw Thomas Keeble take on Dene Magna, this game was also quite one sided with Dene Magna doing well to stay in the game and to remain competitive as Thomas Keeble thundered on to win the game 44 – 14 and set up a thrilling final with ALL Saints’.

The final with tightly contested in the opening exchanges. The danger pair from Thomas Keeble were targeted on defence and much time and effort was placed on limiting their opportunities particularly within the key. The first quarter of the game ended 9 – 8 in our favour and a stern team talk demanded a greater pace and urgency with passing and driving. The movement and the demands were responded to and the squad upped their game once more capitalising on their possession and excellent defensive work. The scoring machines kicked into action and with Carbin, Batac, Brown, Rayson and the impressive Cotton Betteridge making their contributions known they raced away to a 24-14 half time lead.

The game was now ours to win or lose, we would decide our own destiny. With Lluisima in danger of fouling out he was replaced and rested for the quarter, Batac was forced to sit the rest of the quarter out due to ill-discipline, the strength of the squad was tested at this point. The replacements more than coped with the demands and even Patterson made his presence felt. The team lead the third quarter 39 – 25 and outgunned the visitors in the final quarter as they looked to the big man to turn things around, Duffus and Rayson defended him out of the game and we continued to drive forward winning the county finals 54 -31.