Buzzer beating triple denies U13s Championship title in Poland

Our London United U13’s have made us immensely proud qualifying to the final of the international tournament Radom Basket Cup.

The young Londoners created a small sensation in Poland pulverising their opposition with their high tempo game and ferocious defence. After comfortably winning their group by beating SMS Spojnia Stargard (Poland) 82-16 and BK Snakes Ostrava (Czech Republic) 60-12.

There was no signs of slowing down in the play-off stages with our young squad beating Basket Team Suchy Las (Poland) 48-26, Dolphins Odessa (Ukraine) 42-26 and Chromik Zary 67-22 to claim their place in the final.

The final game against MKS Dabrowa Gornicza was however a completely different encounter. From the very beginning both teams have ferociously contested every possession with neither team reaching an advantage bigger than 5 points. The last 60 seconds proved to be a heart-breaking end to the championship with United building a small lead and seemingly sealing victory in the tournament. On both occasions tournament’s MVP Jakub Ucieszyński has come up with very deep and contested 3 pointers which allowed his team to reach a 50-49 victory at the final buzzer.

London United’s incredible performance of coming second among 37 international teams has also found its reflexion in individual accolades awarded to our young players. Zamoku Weluche led all scorers and Liam Campbell has been voted to the All Stars team.

Kelson Dickson, U13/14 Head Coach stated “The tournament was a fascinating experience that promotes the true culture of basketball. The crowd, the music and the team bonding all provided a platform to raise the love of the game. The boys played well and competed to the end and the experience proved to be priceless for the future.”

Emma Chambers, Director of London United was understandably delighted when she delivered her verdict: “I can’t even begin to describe how impressed I am with this age group and their coach Kelson Dickson. They won their league and promotion to U14 Premier playing with the majority of their roster at least a year younger than the opposition and now they have performed impressively in Poland. However, what we are equally proud of is how hard they work and how they behave off the court.”