Lions recover from play-off loss with series victory

Basketball

It was a bittersweet week for The

North School Lions as they were eliminated from the ABL play-offs by Nottingham Academy only to bounce back with a superb away performance to claim victory over ACS Cobham to remain undefeated in the International Schools Series.

The Lions and Nottingham Academy traded blows in a pulsating first half that saw the visitors holding a 43-39 lead at half- time but a cold-shooting third quarter saw the Lions trailing 70-51 heading into the fourth. They battled hard to win the final period by six points, as they fell to an 84-71 loss. With no time to dwell on their disappointment, the Lions started well against ACS Cobham to take an early 8-2 lead, thanks to six quick points from point guard Roshan Thakali. The Cougars responded with a relentless display of offensive rebounding which led to multiple second chance opportunities and they held a 16-11 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter saw the Cougars continue their dominance on the offensive glass. However, the Lions slowly began to reel in their tricky opponents with their quick transition game. Lions captain Harvey KempGreen registered nine points in the quarter for his team as they went into the half-time break trailing by just a single point (29-28).

In the third quarter, the Lions showed their resilience as they finally neutralised the Cobham rebounders thanks to the heroics of Oakley

Rigby, who recorded a season high seven rebounds. The Lions then piled the pressure on the Cougars with a combination of pressing defence and meticulous offence as they stormed into a 47-34 lead with quarter to play. In the fourth quarter, the Lions star of the future, Kai Guthrie gave an inspired offensive performance as he registered seven quick points with fearless drives to the rim and fine outside shooting.

Cobham battled to the end but the Lions’ disruptive defence forced a flurry of missed shots which allowed them to continue to cause havoc in the open court as they landed a comfortable 62-46 victory.

Parnell led all players in scoring with 20 points to go with 17 rebounds, five assists and three steals.

He said afterwards: “A quality win against such a well organised was the perfect response to the Nottingham loss. We started off the game slowly but we were able to find our rhythm in the third quarter. We got big contributions from the bench and everyone was clicking so it was a true team win.”

Kemp-Green (13 points, four rebounds, four steals) and Thakali (12 points, eight assists, four steals) were also instrumental in the win.

Lions head coach Andrew Sunderland said: “It was a tremendous achievement to reach the last 16 in the ABL but our ambition was to win the championship so it was bitterly disappointing to fall short of that goal. “Credit to Nottingham; they punished our errors and were deserving winners. I was very proud of the character that we showed to bounce back with a clinical win at Cobham.”

The Lions now move into the final three games of their International Schools Series holding a perfect 5-0 record.