United closer to EYBL playoffs

London United has made a huge step towards qualification to the first historic EYBL play off by beating the previously undefeated Estonian TTU BA  71-49. The game carried additional pressure for our Londoners who after a very unconvincing showing against NBA Academy Africa had no room for any further defeats. London United started very brightly energised by ferocious defence led by Afra Khalil and Mohamed Adan quickly created an easy opportunity to score from fast breaks. London’s methodical offence quite easily managed to find the gaps in the Estonian zone and by the end of the first quarter they built a 10 lead. The second quarter was the period when the game was decided as a competitive encounter. Elias Poorman took overcontrol of proceedings at the perimeter while his partner in crime Tomas Butrimas completely dominated the inside game on both sides of the floor. In the second half both teams happily traded points giving coach Szatkowski an opportunity to give solid minutes to all players.

In the previous night, our Londoners lost to NBA Academy Africa 81-64. There is no escaping the fact that the long journey which started at 2am played a role in the way in which the players performed. After a slow start, London United managed to reduce the margin to 7 points with 3 minutes to go. However, poorly executed offences robbed United of maintaining their clean sweep in the competition.

London United have two more fixtures to play in EYBL Stage II competition;

12.01.19 10:00 v Spanish Basketball Academy

12.01.19 16:00 v Alba Fehervar (UKTimes shown).