London United makes history
London United become the first ever British team to win EYBL Super final in any given age category. Our young Londoners have achieved this historic title by beating International Basketball Academy (Italy) in the final of the U-23 tournament 88-76.
Third place was claimed by On My Grind which in nail biting fashion defeated Hot Pepper Academy (Netherland) 82-80.
The road to the final for London United was far from easy. In the first game they delivered a very team-oriented performance to beat Nottingham Athletes 88-69. However, their next game against Hot Pepper Academy was a completely different type of encounter. The very well organised Dutch side took an early lead and very quickly established double digit lead. Despite the efforts of London United, the Dutch team was able to maintain a seemingly safe margin well into the late stage of the third quarter. Then London United reverted to their trusted weapon of ultra hard almost full court man to man defence. A succession of quick steals forced by Liam Campbel and Vilius Kuzminskas led to easy fastbreaks finished with aplomb by Rinor Dragusha and Jamari Seri. There was also a significant change in United’s offensive structure when both Djamba and Obi could finally start to make a visible impact in the paint. The first lead United took was 3,5 minutes before the end of the game. For the remaining part of the game our Londoners maintained the very slight lead and under steady stewardship of Campbel and Dusha they finished on the rights side of the 73-71 result.
In the final against IBA lead by legendary NBA and Euroleage star Teoman Alibegovic, United seemed to conquer all demons which plagued them in the semifinal game against Hot Pepper. Rinor Dragusha from the very beginning took upon himself the leadership role and punctuated IBA’s defence with rapier like penetrations and accurate long-distance shooting. Very quickly Rinor’s example spurred the rest of the team and United was relying on the very hard defence which translated itself into free-flowing offence. By the half time United had built a 15 point lead and was in the full control of the game. In the second half the pictured looked pretty much the same where United was maintaining a relatively safe margin winning the game by 12 points.
On top of the winning the title, Rinor Dragusha was voted MVP of the tournament while Liam Campbel has made All Stars Team of the tournament.
It was quite understanding that Coach Clive was absolutely delighted when he stated: “Winning the EYBL is an important achievement not only for our team but also for British Basketball as a whole. We are one of very few teams to advance to the SuperFinals and win the title. This success is a result of the players’ hard work and commitment, along with the support from our leadership team at London United.”