Newry Basketball Club

Last Saturday saw Newry Flyers U14 team travelling to play Queens in Belfast for their second meeting of the season.
Newry were confident after their victory earlier in the season, but didn't want to risk losing their unbeaten run.

It was a strong start from the Newry team, Aaron Miller came out of the blocks fighting with some string driving moves. He had support from the post in the form of Conor Yendall and Jo Hanna. This made a great combination, as Miller drove to the basket the queens defense were split trying to mark him, and also cover the post players. Inevitably the gaps formed and Newry were able to mass a formidible lead. When the queens defense tried to stand back from the ball, Aaron Miller punished them with some great outside shooting. The first quarter finished 13-4.

In the second quarter Kamil McCabe took control of the point and commanded the game. He set the plays up and the ball was moved round magnificently. The main beneficiary of this was Mark Thornton. Mark showed great skill in finding the open spaces while also losing his defender and managed to sink 3 shots from the same spot on the floor before Queens even knew what happened. Kamil McCabe received an injury to his knee and had to sit out the rest of the game. Ross McQuillan was able to step up to handle the ball. Under the basket, however, Newry didn't look as comfortable and Eoin McStay and Danial Hanratty had to work hard under the basket to cover the physically strong queens side. Newry held their lead their 9 point lead going into the half 21-12

Queens frustrations began to show in the second half and some of the queens players quickly got foul trouble. In the third quarter the Queens captain fouled out of the game and two of their other players ended up on 4 fouls. Aaron Miller and Mark Thornton continued to trouble the defense from all over the floor, but the post players struggled under the basket. It was because of the Queens strong inside play that they managed to get back to within  3 points of the Flyers going into the forth quarter. Newry showed they had plenty left in reserve though. Aaron Miller got his second 3 point basket of the game and Conor Yendall worked hard under the basket to keep the Queens team at bay.

Newry finished an exciting game victorious at 39 points to 33.

Aaron Miller        16pts (MVP)
Mark Thornton     10 pts (MVP)
Jo Hanna            5 pts
Conor Yendall      4 pts
Danial Hanratty    2 pts
Eoin McStay        2 pts
Matthew Fegan
Gareth McMillan
Shay McMillan
Rowan Lewis
Cathal Lewis
Kamil McCabe
Ross McQuillan