Saturday saw Newry Flyers U19 Boys travel to Downpatrick to face Down Vikings, marking the midpoint of their season with a tough encounter.
The game opened quickly with 3 points from Down’s D. Polly. Newry immediately replied with an opening basket from Niall McArdle. Neither team wasted any time settling into the game, with Newry’s point guard, Conor Campbell moving fast up the court. Despite plenty of shots, Newry were unable to convert it to points on the unforgiving rim. It soon became clear that Newry were missing the influence of tough rebounder Aled Jenkins, who was absent from the game. With Newry’s shots not going in and no big man inside to get the rebound, the Vikings made the most of this, stealing the ball and attacking fast. The first quarter ended 14 – 8.
Coach Paul Crawley roused the team in to action for the second quarter, encouraging the boys to fight for every ball. As both teams settled into zone defences, Newry found it difficult to penetrate the zone and took a lot of outside shots. However with better rebounding, Newry were able to put some points on the board. By half-time the Newry side were down 27 – 20.
The second half of the game proved just as tough for the Newry side. With a fast pace and quick, effective passing, the Vikings were able to break the Newry zone for easy baskets time and time again. Despite this, the Flyers upped their game and fought strong. The superb skill from Newry’s Captain, Niall Byrne kept the Flyers in the game, as he racked up a personal tally of 21 points. The Newry team battled hard in the last quarter, gradually closing the gap to 4 points. However, with some quick baskets from the Vikings in the last minute of the game, the Flyers had no way to return. Final score Down Vikings 51 Newry Flyers 43.
MVP for Newry was Niall Byrne.
Newry Flyers: N. Byrne (C) (21pts), N. McArdle (10pts), C. Campbell (6pts), S. Bannon (2pts), T. Guo (2pts), D.Ruddy (2pts), P. Kavanagh, M. Hanratty, C. Doran, C. Cull, H. Liu.
