Sir Thomas Boteler Church of England High School

Basketball News 2012-2013

Mixed Away Results Leave Basketball Qualification In The Balance

Wednesday 13th March 2013

Before half term we played Congleton High School in our first away match of the season. Our team was familiar with the opposition’s strengths and had a game plan designed to stifle Congleton’s best two players. Strong rebounding and excellent man to man marking led to Congleton finding it hard to score, whilst our offence worked well and many baskets were scored from fast breaks.

The scores were fairly even at half time but as is often the case, Boteler pulled away in the second half and at one point the difference between the teams was well over 20 points. This allowed us to use all our players on the bench, giving them vital match experience. By the end of the match there was still a 15 point difference and every player scored at least one basket.

The team was advised and managed by Mr Wood, Mr Lloyd, Josh Woodward and Mrs McLean who all provided valuable support away from home. The final score of 74-59 reflected a comfortable victory, which kept us at the top of the pool with one match to play.

Our final pool match was against Birchwood, again an away fixture against familiar opposition. Our team was not at full strength and our players found this a difficult venue to play at once again, being used to the excellent facilities in the Ball Hall. Birchwood won this match by 55-50, the first time they have beaten us since our first meeting in Year 9.

We now await a decision by England Basketball to see if we will progress to the Regional Round of this year’s competition. In spite of this uncertainty, the team is in a confident mood ahead of this week’s Warrington Schools U16 Competition in the Ball Hall. This is a competition we have won three times in the past. Photographs recently posted on the school’s website show previous Boteler winners.

The players who have taken us to this level are; Renz Kae Agpoon, Jacob Lloyd, Nathan Weaver, Josh McLean, Cameron Burrows, Liam Hickson, Aaron Ashton and Matthew McCready.

Clinical Boteler Team Brushes Aside Crewe School To Top North West Pool

Wednesday 20th February 2013

Sir Thomas Boteler U16 75pts St Thomas More U16 18pts

This was our second English Schools Basketball Competition pool match and was played at the Ball Hall against St Thomas More School from Crewe. We anticipate the final pool rankings to be very close so it was important for us to score heavily and improve our points difference against a team we always expected to be unable to play at our level. The start of the match was crucial and we needed to be faster out of the blocks than in our last match to avoid falling behind and giving the other team any encouragement. In spite of some careless finishing, a substantial lead was established in the first 10 minutes. Our man-to-man defence created several fast break opportunities which Josh McLean and Cameron Burrows always looking to break. Following up the breaks, Jacob Lloyd and Renz Kae Agpoon were both physically stronger and more skilled in scoring from close range. Once again we drew a lot of fouls and free throw shooting was good. Liam Hickson continued his good run from the free throw line and later in the game used his energy to penetrate the defence to run in two layups. We were ahead 36-4 at half time. The comfortable lead gave us the opportunity to bring on players from the bench at regular intervals, keeping everyone fresh. Josh Carmichael scored himself and combined well with other players to add to the total. Josh is slowly returning to full fitness and will be working on his acceleration over the coming weeks. Aaron Ashton took over fast break duties later in the game and also got on the score sheet. As the opposition tired, Nathan Weaver and Renz secured increasing amounts of rebound possession and finished well under the basket. Gaps appeared with increasing frequency in the Crewe defence towards the end. Cameron’s pressing in the opponents’ half led to numerous turnovers and his unselfish distribution created scoring opportunities for several team mates. Jacob orchestrated our offence skilfully throughout the match and produced a number of high quality assists with his extensive passing repertoire. Our strength in depth was emphasised by the fact that every player scored and Josh, Mclean, Renz, Jacob and Nathan all hit double figures with Josh leading the way on 15 points. We are once again grateful to several current and former students and parents for their organisational assistance and support for the team

English Schools Pool Match Victory Gets Basketball Season Off To A Good Start

Tuesday 19th February 2013

In previous seasons we have always played at least three matches by January but due to a lack of opposition from several local schools we have had to wait until …the New Year to play our first fixture in the National Schools competition. This was on January 10th against Furness Academy from the Barrow in Furness area. This school is twice our size and their basketball team currently tops the local league. They arrived in Latchford last Thursday after a long drive and surprised us in the first few minutes of the match by their speed, taking an early 6 point lead. The fight back was led by Cameron Burrows with the first two baskets and an assist, so that when the first time out was called the scores were close at 12-10. Tighter defending and superior rebounding by Renz Agpoon, Josh McLean and Jacob Lloyd soon gave us greater defensive control whilst offensively we began to win more second phase possession too, allowing our outside shooting to compensate for a lack of open layup opportunities.

Josh Carmichael made an immediate impact on his return to competitive basketball and he pushed us further ahead with his first open shot. Liam Hickson came on to create problems for the Furness defence with his speed around the court and he was rewarded with two free throws at the end of the first half, both of which he scored to give us a five point lead of 23-18 at half time.In the second half with Furness Academy’s one-dimensional style of motion offence covered, we increased the gap between the teams. Aaron Ashton scored from outside, with the same confidence as we see from him each week at training and both Cameron Burrows and Josh McLean scored 3 pointers to stretch the lead as well as controlling possession with their match-playing experience and dribbling skills. The benefit of a large yet competent squad was evident when Dylan Waters and Matthew McCready joined the game to inject energy to our tiring defence, working hard underneath the basket at both ends in support of Renz and Nathan who both scored freely against physically inferior opposition. Furness ultimately had no answer to Jacob Lloyd at point guard, whose individual skill on the ball and in distribution ensured we were never in danger of being caught in the final stages of the match. They were forced into committing fouls at regular intervals and our effective free throw shooting underlined the impact of regular practice in preparation for these competitive fixtures. The match was won 48-33, efficiently refereed by former students Josh Woodward and Tom Bate and played in an excellent spirit. This result gives us just the start we want with more challenging fixtures to come. Thanks to all those students and parents who came to support us.

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