LLJBC U16s played their first match of the Nottingham Summer League against Mansfield Giants, a strong team featuring Basketball England talent pathway players from the East Midlands Aspire Hub..
The team started slowly, overwhelmed by the scale of the task in hand, with the arena and size of the crowd adding to the internal pressures. After a few inspiring words from several team members the group began to settle and find some kind of rhythm and connections. The team who have never played competitively together before went down 4-10 in the first 10 minutes but found a way to match Mansfield point for point for the next quarter going into the half 11-16 pitching a point off Giants lead on the way this effort was lead by Leo C Ben H and Josh A thorough recognition of 1v1 attacking moves to attack the paint to collapse the defence. At the half our focuses were reaffirmed and the level of commitment from the boys was inspiring considering the 3rd was when Giants really began to punish our mistakes on defence, especially in transition. In the 4th just as we were finding a way to penetrate the defense, the Giants asserted their control of the game with a 14-2 run to seal the deal. Defensively throughout the team’s commitment to contain and pressure the ball was commendable and now we build our defensive skills to do it better! Ben H took the score leader top spot with 6.
Coach Scott added “The players represented the uniform and the city with professionalism and complete investment in our culture, they brought our culture to life tonight through determination and creativity to solve problems”
Score break down
4-10
11-16
16-28
20-42
Well done to Giants