SPORT
This was also a record length season for our senior team this year with 21 fixtures played. The signs were ominous, after we started with only two wins out of seven in the early part of the season. In the league, including a pre-season game, we lost 37-73 to BTG, to Alleyn’s 59-72, and to Whitgift 57-61. We did enjoy two home court victories, beating KCS Wimbledon at home and Royal Russell 56-47. Our National Conference campaign also opened with a 50-77 loss to Bishop Thomas Grant School. However, this is what makes the story of our seniors’ season so impressive. The reaction offered by the squad, including self-imposed 7am training once a week, was a huge credit to all involved. The rest of the season up until play-off finals consisted of 12 matches with only three defeats endured in all competitions. In the National Conference we beat Norwood School 65-54 but lost in what in truth was actually one of our best performances of the season to Barking Abbey by 72-53. This qualified us as second in our group to play Sir John Madejski Academy in the next stage, who won their group. They are a college with an admirable reputation on the national stage in Basketball, and the boys should again be proud of the way they played to lose only 76-68. In the league we had a run of six straight victories, beating Sevenoaks 34-26, City of London 66-64, Royal Russell 58-25, St Paul’s 64-27, Forest School and again City of London by 74-73. This qualified us for the league play- off finals in second place to play City of London in an epic and victorious 74-73 match. The final unfortunately proved a step too far after such a fatiguing semi-final and we went down to an outstanding Whitgift side, having run them close, up until the last quarter. Whitgift again proved our nemesis in the LISBA Cup where we beat Royal Russell 58-25 in the quarter-final, but lost to Whitgift, the season’s clear stand-out team, by 51-53. A huge thank you goes to Coach Sinclair for his professionalism, expertise and all the time he has given to both the U16 and U18 teams in what have been record length seasons for both. Under 18s In the National Conference, we got our campaign off to a flying start with an 88-52 win against St Thomas the Apostle School and a 70-60 victory over Raynes Park School. Our final group game was against Platanos, who played superbly to beat us 66-72. This saw us qualify into the next stage of the National Competition from second in our group to play first place St Bonaventure’s. They were frankly superb, and although losing 109-48 is tough, it was a great experience for the team to play against such incredible quality. Whitgift, in the semi-final. We again lost 75-60. In the third place play-off we played well on very tired legs to beat Alleyn’s 72-66.
These boys can be proud of what they achieved in a record length of season, where they played no fewer than 22 fixtures. In the league they played 15 fixtures, winning 10 and losing five, starting with a brilliant run of three victories: 41-20 against BTG, 82-47 versus Royal Russell School and 74-46 against KCS Wimbledon. However, the boys took their foot off the pedal and subsequently suffered two consecutive defeats, 51-77 to City of London and 55-31 to Whitgift. They reacted superbly to this disappointment and again went on a run of wins. They beat Alleyn’s 56-30, and St Paul’s twice, 83- 43 and 86-43. Unfortunately, the next fixture against Alleyn’s was blighted by injury and we had to host with no fewer than three of the starting team unavailable. Nevertheless, the remaining squad did well to give Alleyn’s a tough match, only going down 69-59. Back to full strength, we managed to put together one of our best performances of the season with two massive victories at home to Royal Russell 78-35, and St Paul’s 72-46. Unfortunately we endured a very brief slump after this to go down by 44-82 to Whitgift. They are a very strong side but we were desperately disappointed to have lost by such a margin. However, perhaps this was the kick we needed, as we then played City of London at home and managed to overturn our away loss to beat them 51-36. This all added up to enough of a league run to finish second qualifiers for the league play-off finals. In a bizarre twist of results, but demonstrating the depth of quality in this league, we found ourselves facing what proved to be a bogey team, Under 16s
Matt Burdekin
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