Great Show From Local Colleges At BCS (From The Northern Echo)

QE Make Semi Final

1:57pm Tuesday 9th December 2008 in Game Time By James Thomson

Basketball in association with Game Time

A great show from Teesside based Colleges at the British Colleges Sports Tournament in Newcastle witnessed five local teams compete in the competition. Prior Pursglove Pumas, Hartlepool 6th Form Hurricanes, Middlesbrough College, Stockton 6dth Form Slammers and Queen Elizabeth all took part, the best representation from any region and an indication of the effect the newly formed Tees College Basketball League is having in the area. It is expected that another three or four local colleges could participate in next years event.

Westgate Centre for Sport was the venue for teams coming as far afield as Barnsley, Huddersfield and Scarborough. Queen Elizabeth and Prior Pumas flew the flag well for the area. Queen Elizabeth doing extremely well to reach the semi final, unfortunately they fell at the penultimate hurdle 26-32 to eventual winners, Tyne Met College. The newly formed Tyne Met are now the development academy for Newcastle Eagles and have come a long way since last season's 45pt loss to Prior Pursglove.

Stockton Slammers found the going tough as they were placed into one of the toughest groups, having to face the intense and well drilled Tyne Met, Kirklees and Notre Dame. Stockton failed to win a game but a much improved performance in their final fixture saw them lose by only 4pts whilst they also ran the bench. Danny Kemp played well for Stockton throughout the tournament. Stockton coach, Lorna Connor added "I decided to run the bench in the final game and give everyone a good run. We couldn't qualify and although we could have won by playing the best five throughout, I am happy with the performance from all the players and thought we gave a good account."

Middlesbrough College flattered to deceive at times, as some good individual plays by Mousa Khanye and Michael Peddie failed to find the end product, resulting in two losses and their only win coming via an 18-14 victory over Barnsley. Khanye was great during this game making an incredible 4 blocks in just 12 mins of play.

Prior Pumas came the closest to qualifying after Queen Elizabeth with comfortable wins over Middlesbrough and Barnsley but despite a good start in their final group game against Scarborough, the Pumas lost 33-19, finding the Yorkshire side too big, especially when Pumas Matthew Norman fouled out. Matthew Norman was player of the game against Barnsley as he produced 6 blocks and 8pts in the 16-10 win.

Hartlepool Hurricanes started very brightly beating Sunderland College 23-8 with Luke Musgrave in blistering form. Sadly in the next game Hartlepool would not score in open play, being soundly beaten by the famed York College 24-1. Hurricanes only point coming from a foul. It was an uncharacteristic display by Hartlepool and more an indication of how good York College were. The Pools faired better against Queen Elizabeth although the Darlington side still won fairly comfortably 28-17.

When Queen Elizabeth met York College in the game to decide who would go through, a great game would result with excitement, talent and suspense all rolled into the 12 minute fixture. With three seconds left and the game tied at 21-21, Adam Little received the ball and fired a half court buzzer beating shot to win the game 24-21 for QE.

Court A Results
Hartlepool 23-8 Sunderland
York College 24-1 Hartlepool
Queen Elizabeth 28-17 Hartlepool
York College 21-24 Queen Elizabeth
Queen Elizabeth 23-3 Sunderland

Court B Results
Prior 20-8 Middlesbrough
Tyne Met 22-12 Notre Dame
Prior 16-10 Barnsley
Greenhead 10-35 Kirklees
Scarborough 25-11 Middlesbrough
Notre Dame 23-17 Stockton
Tyne Met 14-5 Kirklees
Middlesbrough 18-14 Barnsley
Greenhead 19-15 Stockton
Scarborough 33-19 Prior

Semi Final
Queen Elizabeth 26-32 Tyne Met

Winner
Tyne Met