Sunday 25th March,
The U14's faced 3 open, selective teams in the 2nd leg of the Dorset Junior Basketball Tournament. Dorset Storm the local rivals, who employ 4 BCS pupils in their U14 ranks, plus Weymouth Tropics and Salisbury Sparks, all have try-outs, selection processes and have the full squad of kids to pick a team from, however that does not stop BCS being a great competitive basketball team.
The U14's led today by Kian Safaee started super strong against Weymouth. Jiapeng Giuo ran the game from the top, driving and dishing the ball well. Adam Dew led the scoring, with some great cuts to receive open passes, great rebounding and solid running. Max Metcalfe and Tobias Strongman ran the wings well, with easy fast break play, whilst Andreas Williams was strong underneath to add to the tally. It ended 32-0 to the Seahawks.
We then faced the Storm, with our 3 boys drafted back to our side, whilst they still had a full squad. Our style of play was working well, Jiapeng, Max and Tobias running the breaks and controlling the offence, whilst Adam, Kian and Andreas worked hard underneath, fighting for rebounds and working hard on defence. It was a closer game with the Storm playing a controlled basketball game, we recognised the threats and worked to stop them. Seahawks got their nose in front, and didn't relinquish the lead, topped by a final second shot from Max to make it 16-10 at the buzzer.
The final game saw us face the Salisbury Sparks, with their big strong inside play. The Sparks had just managed a final minute win over the Storm 17-16, so this would effectively be the final match of the tournament. Starting big, Kian and Andreas cut out the threat from their centre, Josh, whilst Jiapeng grabbed a few steals, ran the court and passed well to his cutting wingmen. We had stretched it to 14-2 and the game was effectively over, but a small comeback with some strong rebounding on their part, made it closer mid way at 20-10 before we closed out the game 24-10 to take the win and the title.
A great day all round, showing what BCS have, competing with the best junior teams around. This U14 team is really strong and has a great future ahead; with the 6 players we beat some of the best, and missing Harley Churchill, whilst on duty for England Basketball in Europe, and Harry Midgely to illness on the day, with a full squad this really could be a national level team.
1st Seahawks
2nd Sparks
3rd Storm
4th Tropics
[Players: Kian Safaee, Adam Dew, Jiapeng Guio, Max Metcalfe, Tobias Strongman, Andreas Williams ]