London Stars win first U16 Boys National Cup title
London Stars won their first U16 Boys’ National Cup as they eased to a 69-38 victory against Milton Keynes Breakers on Saturday at the NBPC in Manchster.
The club’s historic victory was far from a classic, but the Londoners were easily the better of the two sides and good value for their win.
The game’s MVP award went to Oskaras Visockas for his 22-point, 11-rebound double-double, scoring key baskets as the Stars tightened their grip on the game. Domas Martinkus had a solid all around game with 12 points, six rebounds, four assists and six steals.
Speaking after the game, London Stars head coach Kelvin Facey said:
“I’m very happy. It’s a run the guys have been looking for for a long time. The experience of being in a final [brought] the force of these youngsters. Some of them have experience of U14 and so I told them what it takes [against] the big guns in front [of them].
“The full focus has been great from September to [now], unbeaten right through.”
Addressing his his athletic team and their defensive strategy, he added: “We split up things. Couple of times they didn’t meet our match up. Then we went with it, then we switched it again to see what would happen and have a little style with it.
“We were fully focused on a few things, a few individuals struggled [at some points], we talked about it, subbed them back in the game and then we executed.”
Both teams looked nervous in the early going, with the pair combining for 18 turnovers in a low-scoring first quarter.
That tone continued into the second to create a 26-23 Stars’ lead at half-time, but the Londoners went into the break on an 8-0 run and that momentum continued into a one-sided second half.
Winning the third frame 21-11, all the momentum was with the Eastern Premier leaders. It continued that way to the buzzer for a comfortable final score, with a 22-4 fourth quarter putting further daylight between the sides.
Both teams focused their offence inside as they combined for just eight made threes, but that suited the Stars as their suffocating interior defence forced the Breakers into 37 total turnovers.
In a rough day at the office, Milton Keynes would shoot 26% from the floor, making just 12 baskets across the 40 minutes. Samuel Muleba was the only player to make it to double-digits in scoring with 11 points.
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