U14 Basketball – Suffolk County Finals
On Thursday 4th December the Year 9 boys made their way to Inspire, in Ipswich at 7:30 am for the Suffolk basketball finals.
Four teams in total had qualified for the event due to winning their previous round- MCA, Samuel Ward, Sir John Leman and Coppleston.
MCA played in the first semi-final, MCA vs Samuel Ward, where the winners of this match would go through to the Suffolk final. The match was four quarters of 9 minutes in length. Tensions were running high, but MCA were happy to be taking part in the first game.
The game started with MCA on the front foot, taking an early lead of 6-0 after the first minute. Samuel Ward managed to get a few baskets back, but the teamwork of Riley Warren and Emil Skorek shone through, with
Emil scoring a lot of good lay ups meant MCA headed into the first quarter 28 – 10 in the lead, a brilliant start for MCA.
Teams were swapped around after the first quarter, so all the lads managed to get an equal amount of game time in the first game. MCA played well in the second quarter, working together and making some good defensive blocks. After the second quarter it was 39 – 23 to MCA, who were fully in control of the game. The third quarter is where MCA dominated, with some good 3 pointers from Riley Warren and some outstanding lay ups from Paavan Balrey, MCA asserted themselves 62 – 37 in the lead. Just one more quarter to get through before the final. The last quarter was a closely contested affair, with baskets being scored at either end, however, MCA still managed to hold their lead winning 74 – 50 with an excellent team performance which saw MCA through to the final.
Coppleston won their semi-final against Sir John Leman (SJL) which meant it was going to be an MCA vs Coppleston final. Samuel Ward played against SJL in the battle for 3rd place, this game was closely contested but Samuel Ward put on a resilient display in the final quarter coming away as victors of this game.
It was now time for the final. MCA vs Coppleston where the winners would be crowned champions of Suffolk. A lot of the other teams had stayed behind to watch the highly anticipated event. The game started and within 15 seconds MCA had already secured a basket which helped settle the lads.
All of the boys were up for the challenge and completely focused the entire game, Coppleston had a very good team and they put together some clever passages of play that led to some nice baskets for them. However, MCA’s strong defence kept them from scoring too many points, defending well as a team without committing too many fouls. A few of MCA’s goals came from Riley feeding in Emil Skorek where Emil was able to use his height to his advantage to turn and dunk some shots in.
The end of the first quarter was MCA 23 – 13 Coppleston. Now, as MCA had a good start all we had to do was hold it and carry on out scoring the other team (easier said than done). MCA started the second quarter off well, with some nice 3 pointers from Ka’mari Jones-Clarke and Riley Warren stretching MCA’s lead further. Resilient defending at the back from Lukasz Kurcon, Elliott Lloyd and Sean Doyle kept ensuring MCA outscored Coppleston. Coppleston then started to hit some form towards the end of the second quarter, scoring a couple of baskets on the bounce which made them more confident. Some quick subs were made from MCA and this enabled MCA to hold out their gap until half time.
Score after second quarter MCA 39 – 27 Coppleston. During half time tactics were discussed and further changes were made. The third quarter was the most equal of the 3, with both teams having their fair share of points. Ultimately, MCA knew all they had to do was keep in the lead with a healthy amount of space between them, good scoring from Paavan, Oliver Da Costa and David Kurcon with good link up play from Zac Sargent enabled MCA to carry on scoring points. End of third quarter MCA 53 – 42. This was it, all to play for with just 11 points separating the two teams.
MCA knew they had to get the first few baskets to get an early gap, and that they did with consistent scoring again from Emil, Riley and David. MCA’s defending was equally as good which ensured we were outscoring them, keeping the gap at a comfortable distance.
The clock slowly counted down but then finally, it sunk in, they had done it- full time MCA 80 – 64 Coppleston. MCA had become Suffolk County Champions. They had played unbelievably well all day, constantly remaining in front. Playing some fantastic basketball and doing themselves proud, coming away as deserved victors.
MCA are now through to the next round, which will be against a school from another area from the East of England (tbc) early next year. Well done to all involved, you absolutley smashed it.