After last week’s loss at Colchester, the u18 Tomcats were anxious to play the next game to make amends for their dismal showing. Practices during the week were intense with the determination to get back to the way they had been playing ball all season. Southend Swifts were our opponents this weekend and right from the opening tip, we went about playing the game with the intent of securing a convincing win.

We won the jump ball and right away attacked the basket for a layup which rolled around the rim before being collected by The Swifts.  A look at the bench saw some of the players thinking it was going to be a repeat of last weekend’s slow start. But that was soon put to rest with a run of 23 straight unanswered points before The Swifts could reply with a feeble 3 pointer. In fact, that was all they managed to score in the entire first period as we raced out to a 35-3 first period finish.

With The Swifts only fielding a team of six players and us having a squad of nine, we pretty much ran the floor for the entire game. Being able to run a full rotation meant we were able to keep the pressure on The Swfits for much of the game.  Southend had a good second period where they managed to score 17 points to offer some resistance. But there was just too much in the game for them to overcome; the large deficit, the constant ball pressure and their limited bench rotation.

In the end, it was the kind of result that we prepared for all week; it was just unfortunate that Southend were not able to offer stiffer resistance. We finished the game 116-41, with seven of our nine players reaching double figures in scoring. Many of the players were also able to fill in the box score in rebounds steals and block shots. Our turnovers as a team were few and there were many forced turnovers against the Swifts which contributed to our hefty score line.

We now have three more schedule games before the playoffs begin, and play every weekend in the month of March leading up to playoffs. Let March Madness begin!!

Score sheet:  Liam Eley 20, Joe Shaju 19, Ethan Dixon 18, Tyme Regent-Bascombe 17, David Lockwood 16, Tom Hunt 11, Jack Spiller 10.