St. Clare's Boys' Basketball Team - 22 Cherwell School - 55

The Boys' U19 had their first League game against probably the best team in Oxfordshire, Cherwell School. Cherwell are the National Champions and have arguably the best school basketball programme in the county across all age groups. Cherwell had in their line up players with National League experience, who have been through the basketball mill over the last 5-6 years.

In contrast, St. Clare's have a new team, with only 2 players from last year and a great group of young, eager, hard working players trying to become a team. The team has been working on fundamentals, defensive and offensive strategies as well as basketball IQ, which can only improve with experience. One of the best things of the team is their ability to listen and execute a real rarity in boys' basketball.

For the game, we had: Tom “the Joker” Cox, Vitas “the Monster” Janukonis, Jules “Magic” Kleitman, Tinnabhand “Tinna” Patana-Anake, Chris “the Brave” Bray, Lorenzo “Shooter” D'Andria, Abimbola “PG” Ayeyemi and Amir “Cap” Amangeldi (Captain), missing were Guglielmo Lombardi and Emilis Romaskevicius (who rumour has it, has decided to retire from basketball at St. Clare's).

Fighting the nerves, the game tipped off and Cherwell went on to score the first 11 points in 7 minutes, then St. Clare's broke the ice with Jules scoring the first 2 points. St. Clare's had not stopped playing, all heart, and all passion; never give up attitude worthy of champions. Cherwell pressed them full court, but a timely time out ensured that the press was easily broken. The quarter ended 2 – 17.

St. Clare's came out more aggressive in the 2nd quarter, now the nerves totally under control and with each player understanding the task ahead “Not about winning or losing, but about playing the game to the best of your ability”, the second quarter had Lorenzo and Vitas scoring and forcing Cherwell make mistakes, however, by the half St. Clare's were still down 6 – 29.

During the second half, St. Clare's continued to improve, using various offensive sets and offering more defensive help, which held Cherwell to only 10 points in the 3rd quarter. St. Clare's added a further 6 points. The last quarter was the best for St. Clare's as they scored 10 but allowed Cherwell to score 16 points. The game ended: 22 – 55 to Cherwell.

St. Clare's high scorers:
Vitas: 11 pts, 6 blocks
Jules: 8 pts
Lorenzo: 3 pts

“The road ahead is a tough one, as St. Clare's needs to ensure all players are confident scoring and defending quicker, bigger and more experienced players, however, this is why basketball is a team sport and as long as we are making the right decisions, it is just a matter of time.” Coach Marulanda.

November