Under 16 National Cup Final

I would love to stay for the later games but having been awake since 3 o’clock I don’t think I’ll be sticking round for those. I just don’t know why the NBA Slam Dunk competition starts so late. By the way, after the Superman dunk, I really thought a man could fly.

Breakfast is cinnamon & raisen bagles and diet coke from Sainsburys in Manchester. Simply the best bagles anywhere. Before long players from Sheffield Junior Sharks are arriving. Today they will play against the Solent Kestrals. The Sharks are here after defeating the boys from Trafford in the semi-final.

The game tips off at 11:30 and we all wait in the bar as the time moves on. The opponents, Solent arrive, boy they look big! I chat to a couple of parents from the Isle of Wright whose son Lewis Hendon-John is in the team.

I find out that the Head Coach of Solent is Bev Guymon, wife of the legendary basketball player Jimmy Guymon. We have a long chat and I find out that their son is now in College in the States where he won a national championship in his first year. Watch out for the Guymon name in the future.

At 11:30 the whistle blows and the game is on the way.

The starting 5’s are Louis Over, Luke Dismore, Spencer Wells, Charles Stiles and Lewis Hendon-John for Solent and Calvin Morant-Hudson, Devon Van Oostrum, Mykel Moodie, Ross Williamson and Joseph Baugh for the Sharks. The referees are Wallace and Bowe.

I have known Fitzroy Wallace for about 30 years from back in the day when he was in the top level of British Basketball. It’s good to see him.

In the Semi- final of this competition, the star performer was Devon Van Oostrum and while he would do his bit in this final, there would be a new name as MVP.

We get a very early hint that he would have a stunning night as he nails a tre to start the scoring in this game. His name is Calvin Morant-Hudson. Tonight he was quite stunning and with Van Oostrum by his side, this back court really were going to run things.

Early on and it is close, 17 to the Kestrels and 19 to the Sharks at the end of the first. The two players showing for the Kestrels were Wells and Hendon-John. For the Sharks it is the awesome back court

There is a great and noisy crowd in the house and every score by either team is met with enough noise to bring the house down.

Teams from later games are starting to arrive, Hackney White Heat and Manchester Magic will be next on court.

I spot ‘mikeshaft.com’ favourite Georgia Jones. She is sporting, wait for it, a broken arm. Get well soon.

Read more about Georgia Jones here

Back to the game and neither team is able to dominate although Sheffield seem to be getting more of what they are looking for.

Head Coach Duco Van oostrum then calls for a full court press and it all changes. Solent are unable to control the ball. Turnover after turnover would comeback to haunt them. They would end up with 35 turnovers. That is more than double the 17 of Sheffield. Mykel Moodie of the Sharks would end up with 7 steals while Joseph Baugh would chip in with 6 of his own.

On one fast break following a steal, Joseph Baugh would take it to the rack and dunk it with two hands…It was awesome! But this was a Championship Final and the Kestrels were not going to give this up without a fight.

It was Hendon-John and Wells who would lead the fight back. Hendon-John would finish the game with 24 points on 8 from 16 shooting from the field plus 8 rebounds. His only negative stat was 8 turnovers. He just couldn’t handle the full court press. Wells would lead his team with 27 and 9 rebounds.

For the Sharks, Coach Van Oostrum will be well pleased with the all round performance of his team. Baugh finished with 14 points and 7 rebounds and, as mentioned before, 6 steals. Coming off the bench John Stewart would finish with 6 points and 10 rebounds and Van Oostrum would go for 15 and 5.

But the man of the moment in this one is Calvin Morant -Hudson.

I remember in the semi-final, he had a lot of trouble against the big Trafford guards and Coach Van Oostrum had to sit him down, but in this one he would play for over 37 of the 40 minutes.

He led the scoring with 19 points and dished us 7 assists, some of which were just too pretty for words. He also had 3 steals.

So it’s another Championship for the Sheffield Junior Sharks organisation. It is one they had to work for but to be honest, they never looked like losing this game. They controlled it from that first three by Morant-Hudson and with the back court moving the ball they were always in control.

Having said all that I think Coach Van Oostrum will be most happy with the defence play by his Junior Sharks.

The intensity was, at times, frightening. The double teams were fearful and Solent Kestrels can take heart that today the Sharks were at a different level.

Later

Mike S