Academy teams open campaigns with a pair of victories
The new college season opened on Wednesday afternoon, and Barking Abbey Lions made a successful start to their EABL campaign with a 77-55 victory at Canterbury Academy.
The competition is the top level of the sixth form college game in England, but with Barking Abbey providing the bulk of Lions’ Division One side they use the regular season to give a chance for some of the other academy players some court time.
But the Lions certainly started strongly with captain Eddy Colley hitting the opening two baskets to spark a dominant opening period. Lions held a 18-5 first period lead, and continued the onslaught in the second quarter to lead 41-12 at half-time.
They added a point to the lead in the third period to take an unassailable 57-28 advantage into the final break before allowing the hosts to give the score a hint of respectability with a 27-19 fourth quarter.
Michael Amako and Denilson Caschili led the Lions’ scorers with 12 apiece, with Steven Asante and Joe Buchanan adding ten each in a balanced scoring effort.
New College Lions also made a successful start to the ABL season as they hosted Northfleet College and chalked up an impressive 81-44 victory.
Andre Lockhart’s side never looked back after A Bari’s triple capped a 17-0 run to open the game, and they went into the first break with a 29-11 lead.
The home side continued to control the game in the second period, finishing on a 9-2 tear to lead 49-25 going into the locker room at half-time.
A 13-4 start to the second half effectively ended any chance of a comeback from the visitors, with Lions going into the final break 67-33 ahead before shading the fourth period 13-11.
Bari led the Lions scoring with 18 points.
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