Midweek scare for United

London United has successfully navigated past two potential slip ups in their midweek games. Firstly, in ABL competition, United beat CONEL Enfield 77-60. The final score does not tell the full story of the game and slightly flatters our team. United managed to build a double-digit lead at the beginning of the game which was sustained up to the middle of the third quarter when CONEL reduced the deficit to 5 points. However, the response from Khalil who successfully combined the duties of floor marshal and top scorer was decisive and United started building a safe margin which allowed them to enjoy a fairly stress free final minutes of the game.

There was absolutely nothing stress free in the last minutes during their encounter against Surrey Rams in U18 Premier League a day later. United started in the worst possible fashion trailing by 18 points after the first quarter. The introduction of an aggressive full court press slowly started to bring the required results and United was in the lead by the early stages of the third quarter. Despite of the very good performance of the whole team, United was not able to build a bigger distance than five points to separate the two teams. In the last minutes a series of unforced errors on United’s part allowed Rams to reduce the margin to a single point. However, the steady stewardship Poorman returning to his normal form allowed United to claim an incredibly important road win.

Coach Szatkowski was truly relieved when he delivered his comments “These were truly difficult road games where you truly learn about the value of your leaders. I think we passed this test very well and I’m really happy that there is a large group of players who are not afraid to perform when the game is at stake. Also, I’m very pleased that Poorman is finally playing up to his amazing potential.”

Result ABL:
CONEL Enfield-Alec Reed 60-77
Top scorers:
A. Khalil 26, E. Poorman 12, V. Olarerin 12, N. Ivey 8, M. Edwards 6, K. Hines 4, A. Yusuf 3, K. Kolesnikovas 2, D. Golovcenko 2,

 

U18 South Premier
Surrey Rams-London United 104-105
Top scorers:
E. Poorman 31, D. Golovcenko 21, K. Hines 15, M. Edwards 9, K. Szczawinski 8, W. White 7, E. Lartey 6, Z. Bentley 4, S. Edwards 4.