Under-16 sides progress in National Cup
It was a case of two-out-of-three for London Lions’ academy teams on Wednesday as they continued the early stages of their season.
Both Barking Abbey travelled to City of London Academy, and finished with contrasting results with the men winning 62-56 while the women crashed to a 85-32 loss.
Joe Buchanan led the way with 15 points for the men, with Aaodhan Daly adding 13 and Eddy Colley nine as the young Lions made it three wins from as many games.
Things didn’t go as well for the women as they lost heavily, with Nicholle Lavinier leading the visitors with seven points, while Fatmata Janneh and Kristiana Nikolova added six apiece.
Meanwhile New City College, coached by Lions’ guard Andre Lockhart, made it five ABL wins from as many games with a dominant 99-41 against The North School.
Lions led throughout the game, building on a 26-11 first period lead to go into the locker room 53-22 ahead. A 24-5 third period took the lead out to 50 before wrapping things up with a 22-14 final frame.
It was an all-round team performance with all 12 players scoring at least four points, led by 14 from A Bari. E Bambara and U Ojubanire each finished with 13 points apiece while I Bennur added ten.
There was also plenty of action for Lions’ junior NBL sides last weekend with four wins out of five games as both the under-16s progressed to the next rounds of their respective National Cups.
Lions’ boys[pictured] welcomed Surrey Rams to St. Bonaventure’s school to compete for a place in the fifth round of the competition and they made a great start by winning first quarter 22-17. The visitors mounted a comeback to shade each of the next two quarters as Lions’ lead was shaved to 45-43 at the final break but the bench came up big with great individual effort from Noah Hanson. Khyle Capanzana stole the show with 18 points four steals and three assists to seal the win 68-58.
The girls were also victorious as they reached the last eight with an 81-69 victory against Solent Kestrels. A great team effort from the start saw Lions outscore their Kestrels 20-8. Solent would mount a comeback of their own but the Lionesses weathered the storm to sail to victory.
London lions Under 14 boys travel to Ipswich to face a team who are yet to win a game. Both teams struggled to score in the first 3 min but Lions took change winning every quarter
To secure a thrilling win 39-114. Top performs captain but
Daniel Banjoko had had a massive 29 point, 12 rebound double-double, adding four steals as Lions U-14 boys recovered a massive 114-39 victory at Ipswich on Saturday. Micael Filho led the way with 36 points while Danylo Martyniuk added ten points,
Lions’ U-16 Conference travelled to Essex to face Brentwood Fire. Both teams struggled at the start with Brentwood looking the sharper of the two and a change in rotation saw Brentwood
take a lead that lasted until the last three minutes of the game before Lions got their act together to seal the win 55-52.
Finally Lions’ U-18 men suffered their defeat in a row as they went down 88-73 against a well-organised Bracknell Cobra side to exit the National Cup. Lions fought their way back into the game after trailing 26-21 at the first break, with Cobras leading by a point going into the locker room. Before the Berkshire side took control in the second half.
(Photo under 16 premier boys / Stephen Onireti)
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