United U15 face International competition
Our London United U15’s started the first match of their International competition with a close loss to strong polish side UKS Chromik Zary. The opening game was watched by over 200 spectators including Poland National team coaches.
Our young Londoners started out slow going down 15-3 in the first 4 minutes of the competition. A great response from K Szczawinski and P Njeru (7 points and 5 assist) saw our team cut the gap to 3 points.
At the end of the first stanza we trailed to the home opposition 22-17. Our team responded with much improved defence which led them to easy transition points to claimed the second period 14-17 with the score at 34:32 going into the half time break.
The home team, ignited by their home crowd came out of the locker rooms aggressive on defence jumping to a 10 point lead at the end of the 3rd. UKS Chromik Zary maintained their momentum into the final stanza shocking our young Londoners with a 16-0 run to steal a 60-46 lead. However, our resilient United never gave up and lead by P Reyes and K Szczawinski pushed for a 12-0 run to cut the lead to 3 points 71-68 with 25 seconds remaining. Unfortunately it was the home team who took the win with a slim margin 73-68.
It was an invaluable experience for our young team who look forward to the remainder of the competition with heads held high.
Head Coach Emerson Westerby said
” I think it was amazing experience for our boys and gave us a lot of confidence knowing we can compete against great teams. In the long term this tournament is great value in terms of team bonding, experience and realisation of what we need to work hard on in the future”.
P.Reyes stated
“We got bit shaky at the beginning as we were nervous. It was a great experience to play in front of this crowd. We regained our rhythm in the 2nd quarter, but lost composure and went down by 14 in the 4th. I’m happy we never gave up and we will go hungrier into the next match”.
London United U15 face SKM Zastal Zielona Gora at 11am (local time) and Kuznia Koszykowki Stalowa Wola 17:00 local time) tomorrow in the second day of International competition. Check back tomorrow for further updates.