SENIORS ADAM HYDARI (YEAR 13)
The Seniors Basketball season started off in September with a match against Sacred Heart. It was a good bat- tle, against an athletic side, but we were able to take the 52–30 victory. After getting the win in the first match and having a group of players who have played together for four years, building chemistry and friendships on and off the court, there were high hopes for the season ahead. Not only did the squad have experienced Year 13 players, but we also had a group of Year 12s who made a mas- sive difference, with great additions such as new Dulwich College student Luke Bei, who has quickly risen to be the best mid-range shooter we have seen (and is commonly compared to the likes of professionals DeMar DeRozan and Carmelo Anthony), and returning students 6-foot-7 centre Ryan Qiu, whose height alongside his shooting prowess has made him a deadly threat, and point guard Ryan Wan, who unfortunately struggled with injuries through the season. Despite this injury setback, the Sen- iors had a great start to the season, with five wins out of five, and Adam Hydari stepping into the point guard spot. A particularly memorable game came against Charter School North where they were held to just 10 points in 40 minutes. We finished the Michaelmas term in a strong position in the LISBA league though did suffer two difficult losses, against City of London School and Sevenoaks. In the National Cup competition, the Seniors won the first three matches in the group stage. Going into our fourth game, we faced one of the strongest sides we had played all year – St Paul’s Burgess Hill. An athletic and strong shooting side, they took a 16-point lead at the half and Dulwich were looking at a big mountain to climb. But with great play calls from Mr Faiers (‘Jimmy Buckets’), DC were able to reduce the deficit to 6 points with 9 minutes left in the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough, and we lost to a very impressive team. We were left twid- dling our thumbs for a couple of weeks as our progress out of the group stage depended on other matches to be played, but we eventually received the great news that we had won our group – the first time in a decade that the Dulwich College Senior squad has made it to the last 16 of the National Cup! We then had a couple more wins in the LISBA league, including notable performances against DLD College, Whitgift and Trinity, with James Lumeh-Ka- mara and Ryan Qiu combining for over 75 points in the
three games. However, the whole team was gearing towards our rematch against St Paul’s Burgess Hill in the round of 16 in the National Cup. With a packed-out upper deck full of parents and teachers, DC surprised their con- fident opponents by taking a very strong lead of 17–10 in the first quarter. Dulwich led for the majority of the game until strong shooting from the opposition point guard and star player #8 took the game in the last few minutes. It was a very strong performance and the deepest cup run in a decade for the DC Senior team. With that tough loss behind us, and a mere 45 minutes after the cup game, we faced off against Royal Russell. It was a comfortable win helped by an impressive 17 points from Marcus Deurell Benito, including step backs and fadeaways, showing his full skill set. With the Nationals behind us we focused on the LISBA playoffs, where we would be coming in as the third seed playing Sevenoaks (second seed) in the first game. A tight game, with DC ahead at the half, led to some amazing shooting from the Sevenoaks #14 to give them a big enough cushion to win the game 67–59. We moved on to the third place playoffs against Whitgift. Special mentions go to Dan Fernandez, who, despite having just returned from injury, hit two massive 3-pointers to get us back in the game, and Luke Bei, whose clutch shoot- ing gave us the go-ahead basket in the last minutes of the game, enabling us to take the lead and win 74–72. Bei’s performances in both matches were really special. To finish off the season, our Year 12s took a quick trip to Singapore to compete in the Dulwich Olympiad; they faced off against strong competition and unfortunately lost in the finals.
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THE ALLEYNIAN 712
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