The young Lions have registered
two wins in two weekends and
will aim for a Hat trick next
weekend against York at home.
Middlesbrough Lions 76-55
Derbyshire Arrows
Last weekend saw the visit of
Derbyshire arrows to Eston, and
with the backing of a large
supportive and noisy crowd the
Lions clinically set about
demolishing the Derbyshire side.
The first quarter saw the Lions
press completely unsettle the
Arrows. The first points were
registered by James Parkin, with
Danny Chirnside adding two
baskets to take an early lead.
The Arrows just couldn’t match
the passion and pace of the Home
team and with the crowd urging
them on, the team embarked on a
18-1 run with buckets from
beadle and Chirnside and 7
points each from Nicholls and
Budd to end the quarter 28-9 up.
The second quarter saw the
concentration slip slightly and
the Lions allowed the Arrows a
foothold back in the game with
12 unanswered points and only
registering two points
themselves in the first eight
minutes of the quarter. After a
timeout the focus returned with
a 9-0 run to re-establish the
cushion and enter the half time
break 39-23 up.
The third quarter saw the lead
consolidated with a 15-12 score
line the only area of concern
being the amount of times the
visitors were sent to the line,
fortunately though the crowd
were instrumental in unsettling
the visitors and they missed all
of their 10 attempts, in fact
scoring only 2 from 30 attempts
at the stripe throughout the
game.
The fourth quarter followed the
same format with the Lions
running out all of their team,
with Oliver Clarke and Hamza
Askari contributing valuable
minutes and demonstrating that
despite being two years younger
than the majority of the team
they can compete at this level
and the future for the team is
in safe hands with these stars
of the future. The final score
was a comfortable 76-55 win. The
MVP was awarded to Jordan
Nicholls who recorded his third
triple double of the season.
Barnsley Leaders 71-84
Middlesbrough Lions
The young Lions made the long
trip to Barnsley with recent
transfer Marshall Patterson
along for support. The recent
addition to the Lions Squad is
awaiting transfer formalities to
be completed and is expected to
make his debt next week in the
home game against York
The game started with the Lions
adopting an aggressive press
which the Home team were able to
counter quite well feeding the
ball to their main scorer Bailey
who accumulated 14 points in the
first quarter on his way to an
impressive 33 point hall for the
whole game. The lions however
answered the early threat with
their own scoring threat with
Jordan Nicholls scoring all the
first quarter field goals with
14 points including 2 threes and
2 blocks. Adding to the tally
Chris Chapman and Dan Brown put
down both of their respective
free Throws to end the first
quarter with the Home team up
23-18.
Despite the score Coach Nicholls
felt that the Lions were the
better team and we only needed
to maintain our composure to
pull back the score. With
Barnsley demonstrating little
outside shooting and everything
going inside to the big man the
Lions switched to a zone
Defence, this had an immediate
impact with the Lions
immediately claiming back the
lead behind David Budds two made
Free Throws, banked 3 pointer
and lay-up. The lead changed
hands 5 times in the quarter
with neither of the teams able
to establish a firm grip of the
game, the score at half time was
39-38 in favour of the Lions.
The third quarter was a
demonstration in great
basketball, with team Captain
Nicholls sitting out due to foul
trouble Dan Brown stepped up to
the mark and took the game by
the scruff of the neck. Brown
was unstoppable at the top of
the defence and running the
floor. He scored the Lions first
12 points of the quarter
including two 3’s to lead the
team to a 12 point lead which
was never relinquished. The
Leaders had no answer for Brown
who made two impressive lay-ups
through traffic including one
involving a spin in the air and
a reverse hook which sent the
bench wild with celebration. Not
to be out done David Budd signed
in with 7 points including a 3
pointer which swished from 15
foot outside the 3 point line
and with Danny Chirnside
continuing his impressive season
with two 20 foot jump shots and
a made Free throw the quarter
was taken 27-13 in favour of the
now rampant lions.
The final quarter saw the lions
consolidate and play some
excellent team basketball to
take the game 84-71. Every
player contributed to a fine
road win, James Parkin switched
to a perimeter role on offence
and made some excellent
penetration and dish offs to
accumulate 8 assists, Danny
Chirnside continued to play
tenaciously at both ends of the
court to accumulate 9 rebounds,
David Budd knocked down 19
points including 3, 3 pointers
and two steals. Jordan Nicholls
added 17 points also hitting 3
3’s and 2 blocks. Big man Shane
Beadle had one of his best games
so far accumulating 13
rebounds,12 points and 2 blocks
but most significantly no turn-overs.
With all off these contributions
it would appear difficult to
nominate an MVP but the catalyst
behind everything was the
performance of Dan Brown who
electrified the game with his
skills and justly earns the MVP
award.
