UNDER 14  BOYS  SEND  BARROW  PACKING

Under 14 Boys Play Offs 2^nd Round

Northants “Thunder”                            71 – 54                  Barrow “Thorns

The Northants Under 14 Boys became the lone Play Off survivors from the Northants club after a convincing win over Barrow “Thorns”. In the end the winning margin was a comfortable 17 points but the county boys struggled for long periods of the game to establish the lead their undoubted superiority merited. This was never more evident than at the start of the game with “Thunder” going seven minutes before scoring their first field goal.

Trailing 11-10 after the first quarter the Northants boys found the answer to their problems in the second quarter, give the ball to Garnet Walters and watch him take on the Barrow defence. In that second period “Thunder” outscored their opponents 25-16 and that lead was extended through the final two quarters despite a spirited surge from “Thorns” at the start of the fourth.

In the 17 point win Garnet Walters and Ben care top scored with 19 points apiece; Piers Toone contributed 9 and Jordan Marshall 8

The win earns the team a 3^rd Round game against one of the favourites for the title, Sheffield “Sharks”

The Northants “Thunder” under 14 boys kept their Play Off hopes alive with a battling win over City Of Birmingham last Saturday. “Thunder” jumped out to a 34-15 lead on the back of some hard-nosed defensive play led by an energetic performance from Ben Care. The aggressive approach of the county boys was not to the liking however of the referees and very soon Care alongside two other ‘starters’ Piers Toone and Garnet Walters were in foul trouble.

Without the services of these influential players “Thunder” battled hard but Birmingham were able to close the gap to 4 points. Coach, Sid Nicholls re-introduced his big guns in the fourth period and that was enough to see “Thunder” through to a well deserved 12 points win with Care scoring 30 points. Walters and Toone supported well with 20 and 14 points respectively while Jordan marshalled the team superbly from the back court.

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The Northants “Thunder” under 14 boys turned in an excellent team performance illustrated by the fact that all eleven players on the team scored. The Northants boys had taken a 22-12 lead after the first quarter and this was extended early in the second despite good resistance from “Warriors”. In an attempt to play aggressive defence “Thunder” began to commit unnecessary fouls and thanks to some accurate free throw shooting Leicester were able to get the deficit back to ten points.

A time out from coach, Sid Nicholls sorted things out and by half time “Thunder” had got the lead back to 16 points at 52-36.

From the outset of the third period it was obvious that the “Thunder’s” defence had had the desired effect and in the final two periods the Leicester boys were limited to just 14 points while “Thunder” poured in another 52 to take the game 104-50.

For “Thunder” Piers Toon top scored with 24 points while Ben Care, Jordan Marshal and Allistair McLure all scored in double figures.

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UNDER 14 BOYS SPLIT GAMES IN BIRMINGHAM

Under 14 Boys Midland Conference

Notts Nova                             40 - 33                   Northants “Thunder

City of Birmingham            38 – 44                  Northants “Thunder”

Having beaten Notts Nova earlier in the season the Northants “Thunder” under 14 boys were keen to claim a double over their east Midlands rivals. In the event they could look back on an appalling start, they were 14-4 down after the first quarter; and shocking free throw shooting, they missed 14 in all as the reasons for their defeat.

After losing to Nova the team had very little recovery time before their next game against tournament hosts City of Birmingham. “Thunder” jumped out to 24-17 half time lead but key players were picking up fouls and Coach, Sid Nicholls had to nurse his team through to the final six points victory.

Over the two games Ben Care scored 20 points and Garnet Walters 19 points, while Jordan Marshall had an excellent tournament.   

UNDER 14 BOYS STAY UNDEFEATED

Under 14 Boys Midland Conference

Northants “Thunder”      38 - 28     Notts Nova

Northants “Thunder      54 – 13     Shropshire “Warriors”

The Northants “Thunder” under 14 boys maintained their unbeaten record with impressive wins over Notts Nova and Shropshire “Warriors”. The w10 point win over Notts Nova was particularly impressive because the visitors were physically bigger than “Thunder” and field no less than four East Midlands players. The win was based on an excellent first half performance which saw the county boys establish a 25-7 lead. They went off the boil a little in the third and fourth periods but the result was never in doubt.

Against an inexperienced Shropshire “Warriors” team, “Thunder” were never able to produce their best form but Coach, Sid Nicholls was able to give his whole squad ample court time and he was well pleased with their contributions.

Over the two games the leading points providers were Ben Care, Piers Toone and Garnet Walters but the main reason for the two victories was the whole team’s impressive team defence.

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The Northants Under 14 Boys have been working hard all summer and were anxious for their first competitive game.

With Black Country “Bears” unable to field a team the game against Derby became a one off game.

“Thunder” played some excellent team basketball and clinched a convincing win. Ben Care, Piers Toone and Garnet Walters led the scoring with 31, 19 and 16 points respectively but Coach, Sid Nicholls was keen to stress that this was a true team effort.

Sunday finished off a fine weekend of basketball with the Bristol Flyers U14’s involved in there first ever weekend of National League basketball. The youngest team to take the court at the WISE arena proved to be a sensation as the team won both of there games convincingly.

In their first game Flyers took to the court against Swindon Sonics and despite being physically smaller than the Sonics Flyers completely ran the team off of the court. With 5 11 year olds in the Flyers team the future looks great and if performances on Sunday were anything to go by the team have a lot of potential.

Led by Josh Rogers, Hayden White, Joe Hensey, Jake Lautze, Joe Packwood and Jack Griffin the Flyers dominated the first half winning it 38 points to 20. The Bristol team were constantly rotated and played some fantastic basketball with the Morse twins Ben and Jed moving the ball extremely well and scoring open shots. Young Darcy Ahmed and Terez Richards found there scoring touch as they attacked the more physical Sonics team driving to the basket and scoring.

By the end of the game the whole team had scored and had thoroughly enjoyed the game not least the convincing way they went about winning the game. Flyers 66 Swindon 39. Josh Roger bagging 14 points for the Flyers.

The second Flyers game was a close affair until the third quarter as a much tougher Tamar Valley Canons team made life difficult for the Flyers. Both teams exchanged leads throughout the first 3 quarters with neither one gaining the upper hand. Flyers led by Rogers and Canons led by Mcloud went head to head as they tried to develop a lead for their respective teams. This continued through the game with Flyers Scott Reid and Tyler Kelly scoring important baskets to keep the Bristol team from falling behind.

A Fourth quarter purple patch saw Flyers take, hold and Control the game to final buzzer with a 24 point to 6 point tear in favour of the Flyers. Josh Rogers leading the team by example with great supporting roles from: Joe Hensey, Hayden White, Jack Griffin and Joe Packwood. Flyers finally went on to win the game  62 points to 40.

Flyers scorers: Josh Rogers 24 points, Jack Griffin 11.

“This was a fantastic little tournament and the team did really well. We have got to see that our future looks really great with such talented youngsters on the court. The way they played today is a credit to the hard work that has gone into our development programme. To see the five 11 year olds play, compete and actually dominate player’s who were 2 to 3 years older and far bigger and stronger was a joy to watch.

The team worked really hard and everybody contributed really well to the result and they all enjoyed the experience!!!” Danny James, Director of Basketball.