London Varsity Series 2020: BASKETBALL

Men’s Basketball

Absolutely fuming, just about sums that one up. The men’s team made a great start to the game and led 26-16 at the end of the first quarter following some incredible three point shooting. King’s number 16 Pastor led the offensive line brilliantly and the fans in red were very hopeful of reducing the overall varsity gap between ourselves and Gower. On the opposite end of the spectrum one could have found the UCL player who had managed to show a lack of sportsmanship in about five minutes by mocking the height of one of his opponents as well as throwing the ball at somebody’s head. Classy. The second quarter saw Kings slow down as UCL narrowed the gap to one point making the score 40-39. Both sets of fans were electric, making noise throughout the whole game, although one must note the number of UCL fans was drastically smaller than the number of Kings fans. The next half was a nail-bitter if I’ve ever seen one. Kings managed to pull ahead in the third quarter extending the lead to six points at 57-51. However, the last quarter was too cruel to the very valiant Kings team, as they saw their lead quickly slip and the two teams went back and forth. This ultimately led to Pastor getting fouled with 0.2 seconds to go and e was left with the task of scoring two free throws in order to level the score at 70-70. Sadly he only managed to make one leaving the score at KCL 69-70 UCL. Absolute heartbreak.

Women’s Basketball

Morale was low at the ram-packed UEL Sportsdock after a heartbreaking start to the morning – something only the Women’s Basketball team could salvage in their chance to shine. Armed with a high-octane scoring offence, which has been firing on all cylinders this year, the tide looked set to turn. The first Quarter showed off both teams’ strengths – UCL aggressive in the paint and the ladies in red channelling fast breaks and excellent wide play through Mariam and Norman’s quick feet. 15-13 King’s the score after 10, with all to play for. Then, be it through divine inspiration or the words of wisdom being bellowed from the sideline, the Strandies took a firm grip on the game and never looked back. Free throw after free throw, two pointers from range and some threes for good measure, often channeled through stellar point-guard Oster (wearing that #22 with style), the two-point lead became a six-point lead. And then a ten-point lead. And then a fifteen-point lead. And then a TWENTY EIGHT POINT LEAD. The supporters could not quite get enough as the ladies matched every stellar run upfield with a defensive masterclass. Despite UCL picking up nine points in the final four minutes (talk about too little, too late), the game was far out of reach for Gower and ensure the points were shared at UEL Sportsdock for another successive year.