Cambridge University Basketball Club

Cambridge 77 : 71 Warwick

On Wednesday, the Blues faced a strong Warwick 1st team. The game was closely contested from the beginning, but tenacious defence and sharp shooting helped the Blues to finish the first half leading 35-33. In the second half, Warwick fought back to take a 52-56 lead at the end of the third quarter. But the Blues were not to be denied and increased the intensity through excellent team defence, which limited the Warwick scoring opportunities. The Blues capitalised on their momentum by scoring 11 unanswered points in the last three minutes through excellent shooting and inside play. The Blues sealed victory with clutch free throws in the last minute, in a performance which was characterised by unselfish play with 6 players scoring double figures. The Blues next home game is against De Montfort University on Sunday 23rd November, 4pm, at the Kelsey Kerridge Sports Centre.

The Lions travelled away for the first time to Northampton and quickly realised that Kelsey Kerridge is not the worst court in the league as they were made to play on a court more suited for ice-skating, nullifying their fast-break threat. Excuses aside though the Lions put in a very disappointing performance to go down 78-51. The score line doesn't reflect the quality of the opposition but the Lions only have themselves to blame with an offence that was poorly executed and a defense that lacked intensity. They also frequently found themselves in foul trouble with centre Elias Mouchlianitis having to sit out crucial periods and Geraldo Zahran fouling out completely, leaving Northampton with many easy free-throw opportunities. Yc Ng carried on his scoring form to lead the way with 15 and Simon Proffitt made a useful 8 point contribution to secure man of the match.

With injuries to key players and a squad that was yet to be decided Cambridge were always going to struggle for fluency in their first league game of the season. Coming up against a well-organised, strong Cranfield team the Lions found it hard to impose themselves on the game and lost 76-38. After a close first quarter the full-court defensive pressure told and Cranfield built a large lead through the second and third quarters. Cambridge picked up their game going into the final quarter and gained some parity but by then the damage had been done. There were some lively debuts from Ping He and Robin Jack and Takumo Goto led the scoring alongside Yc Ng with 9 points each. Man of the match goes to Yann Frampton who as our lone big man had a very busy game. He also scored the shot of the match with a lovely reverse hook on a fast-break. Many thanks to Cranfield for giving us dinner after the match! A disappointing result but there is much improvement to be made.

Tryouts for 2008/2009 season

The tryouts for the men's first and second teams will take place in Kelsey Kerridge Sports Centre, 20:30-23:00 on 10th of October.

The tryouts for the ladies team will be 10th of October 7-9 pm at Cherry Hinton Village Centre.

Looking forward to the new season,

CUBbC