TU Lions Juniors
were in action during a pre season game against
each other. The Lions were due to play Nunthorpe
Juniors but was cancelled due to lack of players
in the Nunthorpe squad.
The in house
friendly took place at Acklam Sports Centre with
young coach Matthew Brown running the Lions A
team and special guest, Corey Jackson coaching
the Lions B team. Corey has recently returned
from Spain where he helped his team win the
Spanish basketball league title. The 6'8"
American pitched his starting five against that
of Matthew Brown in a battle of experienced
coach versus young coach.
Phillip Findlay
opened the scores for Lions B in the second
minute of play. This was shortly followed by
Alex Bailey converting a mid range jump shot to
give the B team a 4 point lead. Nathan Duff
replied for the A team in the fourth minute only
for Katie Dodgson to rebound a missed shot from
Alan Slasor and convert the power lay up. With
the scores at 2-6 in favour of the B team, Dan
Brown stepped up his game and found the basket
with a clever drive. Duff made up for his
earlier 'travel' violation by making a steal and
a lay up to tie the game 6-6 but it was Findlay
who was the star of the first quarter as he made
two more baskets and provided the assist for
Bailey to hit the final shot for a 8-12 lead at
the buzzer.
The second quarter
was a story of good defence as both teams aimed
to stop their opponents from scoring. Only three
baskets were made in the whole 10 minute period.
Brown and Duff on target for Lions A whilst only
Dodgson would convert for Lions B. The scoreline
therefore not changing much at 12-14 still in
favour of the B squad.
In the third quarter
Findlay came out in determined fashion as he hit
six points in a row followed by Slasor's
contribution of another four points. The A team
answered back through Daniel Wright and then
Charlie Collins but the team couldn't find an
answer for the impressive Findlay. At the end of
the third the scores were 16-26 with the A team
facing an uphill struggle.
In the final quarter
a strong pep talk by Matthew Brown and fellow
coach James Burton provided a much needed morale
boost as the A team went on a 10 point
unanswered run with Wright, Brown and Duff all
chipping in the points to tie the scores 26-26.
Duff in particular was playing excellent defence
making steal after steal although his finishing
let him down on more than one occasion. Bailey
halted the run in the seventh minute with a
great baseline jump shot followed by the
trademark underarm shot of seven year old
Michael. With one minute remaining The B team
were 4 points in the lead at 26-30 and looked to
have the game wrapped up until Brown hit a jump
shot in the key and then went from coast to
coast to convert his lay up to tie the game on
the buzzer. In a dramatic final quarter the A
team pulled back a 10 point deficit to tie the
game and take it into a shoot out. Bailey (B)
and Brown (A) were selected to shoot it out with
both players hitting their first shots, Bailey
converting his second and unfortunately Brown
missing his second to award the win to the Lions
B team.
