U16 Sureshot Cup semi final

Sheffield Saints vs Birmingham As
5th February 2012, 1.30pm, All Saints

Saints 16 19 14 10 59
As 20 22 21 10 73

Things didn’t seem to start too well as Eddy, David, Marcus, ConnorD and Kenneth took to the court as although ConnorD bagged a basket it was Birmingham who soon 9-2 up half way through the quarter . However Saints seemed up for it and an Eddy Trey followed by score from ConnorD, Marko, George and Josh pulled it back to a 2 point game at 16-18. However a cheap basket from the As gave them a 4 point lead at the end of Q1.

A similar pattern emerged for quarter 2 with the Saints playing catch up. An Eddy trey and two treys from David were helping claw back the deficit with Marcus, ConnorD and Kenneth also helping out. In the 9th minute it was a 3 point ball game but yet again the Saints let the opposition have some baskets at the end of the quarter to give them a 7 point advantage. All was not lost but a good second half performance was needed.

ConnorD and Tyler again chipped away at Birmingham’s lead but then a three minute passage of play effectively saw the nails being hammered home into the Saints aspirations of a cup final appearance. Marcus had 2 consecutive baskets disallowed, one for traveling, the other for an offensive foul. However you can’t get into foul trouble after 3 minutes and expect it to be easy. Half way through the quarter a 14 point lead had been established by the As. Give the Saints their due as from this point on the game was shared, but too little too late. Another David Trey got the show back on the road with Daniel, Josh and Marko also helping out.

Birmingham used every second of every 24 they were given in the last quarter, they were in no rush to be rash. Josh, Marcus, Marko and Kenneth got the points but that 14 point gap could not be closed. Game over, cup over, let’s move on.

Team and scorers: Connor Dixon (12), Marko Backovic (10), David Frost (9), Kenneth Nwose (6), Josh Edwards (6), Eddy Brownell (6), Marcus Welsh (4), George Naylor (2), Tyler Gayle (2), Daniel Jenkinson (2), Montell Gordon-DNP, Matteo Murriero-DNP