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After the 92 point win against Barbados, the England juniors faced a much more difficult task against 21st ranked Australia as they looked to maintain their unbeaten season alive.

Australia came out of the blocks on top as they quickly jumped out to a 14-4 lead to start the game. England struggled offensively in the first period, SG David Hughes shot a poor 2-8 FG in the period as England as a team only shot 33% in the quarter. Australia lead at 21-13.

The 2nd quarter started off slow for both teams as after 4 minutes of the quarter only 3 baskets were scored, only 1 for England by C Andy King. From here, England put together a 20-10 run going in to half time to pull the score level at half time. The run came as the England bigs began to dominate to offensive glass, as they were able to collect and put back 4 offensive rebounds.

Both teams battled hard coming out of half time with the score reaching 41-41 with 7:30 left on the 3rd quarter clock. An elbow jump shot by PG Kevin Bunsell and dunk from C Andy King broke the tie and put England ahead for the first time in the game. The ignited a 12-5 run to put England up 8 before Australia battled back to reduce the lead to 3 heading in to the final quarter.

Andy King started the forth quarter with aggression as he scored 7 straight points, including an offensive rebound and and-1 putback. A 9-2 run by England put them ahead by 10 with just over 4 minutes to go. After a few scrappy minutes by both teams which a few turnovers and fouls, England came out on top. the final score was 86-74 as England move to 5-0 on the season.

Another difficult game for the juniors as they travel to Latvia, who are also unbeaten on the season.

Players of the game:
3 points- C Andy King- 10-12 shooting for 21 points as well as holding Australia's main threat Lund to 7-17 shooting. A dominant game again for King
2 points- PF Jamie Hermann- 13 points, 16 rebounds (5 offensive) and 3 assists as he commanded the glass on both sides off the court.
1 point- SF David Miller- 10 points in 14 minutes on 3-4 shooting for Miller who provided effcient scoring off the bench.

Great results today!

Both teams have now effectively qualified! (Barring any shocks)

The senior team are now a win ahead in 2nd place, so a win against Cyprus guarantees qualification.

For the juniors, with only 2 games left before the knockout rounds, only 2 defeats by big margins would stop us qualifying.

An amazing job by both Vycka and js8 this season so far!

Game write ups hopefully coming tonight or tomorrow!

Two really excellent results today, Congratulations to Vycka for the job he's done with the Senior team.

Great day for both teams!
Let's keep It up gents!
Good job Js8 tho.

Kind regards,
Vy

The biggest game of the season so far for the England senior squad as they faced 16th ranked Bosnia in a game that would all but guarantee qualification if they win.

England started the game with aggressive intent to put a stamp on the game. Unfortunately C Frank Dolan fell injured in the first minute of the game but England responded by winning the quarter 27-17. It was a team effort as there were 7 different players get on the scoreboard in the 1st quarter. England’s aggressive player sent them to line line 16 times in the first quarter, putting the Bosnia team in some foul trouble.

Bosnia’s C Milan Matanovic was enjoying not having Dolan in the game as he started the game 7-7 FG on his way to 15 points and 7 rebounds in the half, however foul trouble was playing a part on his performance. England’s veteran backup PG Aarumughasami Lal shot 5-5 in the first half to keep the scoreboard on the correct side from an English point of view. A buzzer eater 3 from PF Dexter Barral sent England in to half time winning 50-39.

England came out after half time looking to push on and put the game beyond doubt, and they started really well with a 10-2 run which pushed the lead up to 19! PG Ian Needham starting the run with an assist to a Ken Greene dunk followed by a dunk of his own. Barrel then had a mini solo run with back to back baskets. The England lead peaked at 20 points with just under 5 minutes to go in the 3rd period. A 6-0 run for Bosnia reduced the lead but then dominant C Matanovic fouled out with around 3 and half minutes in the period to go and England thought the game was there for the taking… but Bosnia had other plans. The score at 80-67 heading in to the last quarter.

The start of the quarter was tightly contested as the lead remained at 13 with over 5 and half minutes to go as England looked to hold out for the win. However Bosnia wasn’t willing to give up and they clawed their way back to 6 points with a minute to go. A missed rebound by C Kenny MacLaverty and offensive fouls be Barral, mixed in with 2 3 pointers by Bosnia tied the game with 16 seconds left. MacLaverty had a chance to make up for his missed rebound with a shot to win the game but came up short, but recovered well to force a missed Bosnia 3 and we head to overtime! Bosnia fought back from 20 points down!

SG Magdaleno Banuelos started the OT period with a layup and 3 pointer to give the early advantage to England before he fouled out. With just over 2 minutes to go, Needham hit a fade-away to put England up 99-98, and this proved to be enough as England didn’t give up the lead from this point and held on to pick up the crucial win.

This win all but guarantees qualification for the England senior squad. To not qualify, England would need to lose to Cyprus and Switzerland would need to beat Germany plus a 120 point points difference swing.

Congratulations to Vycka on this achievement in his first season!

Players of the game:
3 points- Ian Needham- 24 points on 8-11FG, 8-8FT shooting as the PG led the way in efficient manner. He also added 6 rebounds and 3 assists with 0 turnovers and helped limited the Bosnia PGs to shooting only 1-9FG.
2 points- Dexter Barral- A 22 point, 12 rebound double-double as well as 4 assists and 2 blocks for the big guy in an impressive display.
1 point- Ken Greene- another balanced stating for Greene who finished with 12 points, 6 rebounds (4 offensive), 4 assists and a block.

Fresh off the impressive win against Australia last week, the England juniors faced another tough test as they faced another unbeaten team in 32nd ranked Latvia away.

England started strong going 5-0 up from 3 free throws from PF Andy King and a offisive rebound and putback from SG David Hughes. This proved to be the story of the first period as Latvia had some foul trouble as they committed 7 fouls in the period while England’s defence was efficient as they managed to not foul at all. Hughes’ rebounding was also a story as he had 7 rebounds in the quarter… from the SG spot! Despite the fouling, Latvia were able to stay close as the quarter ended with the score at 19-18 in England’s favour.

The second period saw both teams offensive flow pick up as both teams continued to battle for control of the game, but neither team could do so. England’s SF Sivaskaren Kanjilal had a horrible half as he shot 0-6FG but England’s ability to defend without fouling was enough to keep them ahead at half time as free throws by C Jamie Hermann put them up by 2 points. Hermann had an impressive first half with 10 points and 5 rebounds on 4-5 shooting.

Latvia tied the game to start the second half but England went on a 8-0 run from their in the first punch to land in the battle for control of the game. Baskets from Kong, Hughes and Hermann put England in a strong position it Latvia were again able to fight back and reduce the lead back to 4. A free throw from Hughes and a scrappy last minute meant that England held a 5 point lead heading in to the final period.

A quick basket from Kanjilal and free throws from PG Kevin Bunsell extended the lead to 9, but yet again Latvia were able to stay in the game by reducing the lead to 3. Another 8-0 run by England with around 5 minutes with baskets from Hermann, C Elvin Goodhew and SF David Miller put the lead up to a game high 12 points as victory looked in sight. Latvia battled hard to reduce the lead but couldn’t overturn the deficit. The final score was 89-83 as England moved to 6-0 and pretty much secured qualification for the knockout rounds.

England next face 49th ranked Croatia away in a game Croatia need to win to have any chance of reaching the knockout rounds.

Players of the game-
3 points- Jamie Hermann- a team high 19 points and 12 rebounds on 8-10 shooting for the Centre. He was also partially responsible for keeping the Latvia’s C to only 69.9 points per 100 shots, while England’s C had 126.3 points per 100 shots
2 points- David Hughes- 18 points and 8 rebounds for Hughes including some big baskets.
1 point- Andy King- 11 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocks for the ever reliable King.

Qualification confirmed, wow! Excellent work.