After a 2 year breather Newry Basketball Club Senior Men made a return to the competitive game with a new look squad.
Newry faced their first test in the Belfast Summer Tournament with veteran players Paul Crawley and Nigel Murphy, returning from 2 years playing in Strabane, as well as a good mix of up and coming youth players including Alun Gorman.
The first challenge came in the form of a tough athletic Bangor Team. The game started at a high pace with Newry and Bangor exchanging baskets as John Ward and Anthony Green getting some tough scores inside. With strong defensive work by Nigel Murphy and Simon Ward the game was tight going into half time.
The second half started as the first ended with skill and quick baskets from Player coach Paul Crawley and Alun Gorman. At this point Newry started to edge ahead bit by bit, and before long they were 15 points in front and holding off any attack Bangor could throw at them. The game ended and Newry had passed their first test 62-47.
In the second game Newry would face a newly formed Belfast Sable’s team. Coach Crawley decided to put his young players into the mix and they did not disappoint.
Seventeen year old David Ruddy and sixteen year old Terry Gui looked comfortable and fearless at points in their senior team debuts. Aided by some long range scores from 3 point specialist Scott Rafferty, Newry cruised to victory 70-34.
The third game of the day saw a tired performance from Newry ending in defeat at the hands of group favourites Andersontown but finishing second in their group Newry had done enough to make the semi finals where their biggest challenge was still to come.
Sunday morning saw only one thing in Newry’s way of making it into the final, that obstacle would be Belfast Tropics who had beaten all 3 of their group opponents by 25 or more points. With a team made up from 3 Americans and national league players Newry were heavy under dogs and to some this was just a matter of playing out the clock.
The game started and the Americans were looking to put their stamp on the final quick, but Newry’s aggressive, hard working zone defence the tropics struggled to take control and Newry fought for every basket that came their way. Anthony Green, John ward and Nigel Murphy all put themselves into a very physical and tough battle under the basket and with hard hitting rebounds and tough shots Newry found themselves trailing by only 4 at the half time buzzer.
Newry knew they had to start the second half as they finished the first and keep Belfast on the back foot and that’s exactly what they did and with the crowds starting to realise Newry were up to the challenge the tides changed and Newry dug deep for the strength to see the game through.
With Crawley and Gorman running the offence with great skill and blistering pace Newry took the lead. With just over 2 minutes left in the game both the tropics and the crowd were equally shocked, “How had the game had gotten to this point?”
But the tropics didn’t show up with this type of squad to come in second and so the Americans finally started to control the floor and the tired legs of Newry found it tough to keep them out. Tropics fought to gain a 2 point lead and with just 2 seconds remaining Newry called a timeout and the final play were drawn up.
A well placed screen from Anthony Green allowed John Ward to free himself from his marker and put up a buzzer beater that sent the game into overtime.
Newry threw everything they had left at the strong and heavily favoured Tropics team and it was paying off as they again matched the tropics basket for basket but it was not to be for the Newry men and at the end of 45 physical and demanding minutes Tropics had edged forward to take the game with the smallest of margins winning by only 2 points.
Player / Coach Paul Crawley said of the tournament “It’s great to be playing for Newry again and this team can be very proud of its performance against a great opponent. I think we’ve proven to everyone that this Newry team are going to be a real handful in the season ahead.”
