The 2012 EBL Junior Final Fours took place this past weekend at the EIS, Sheffield, with the top four teams in the U14, U16 and U18 age groups fighting it out for the right to be called National Champions. See below for full results, leading scorers plus a few notes:
Under 18 EBL Junior Final Fours
Lewisham Thunder won the 2012 Under-18 National Championship in their first season in the South Premier, after getting past Westminster Warriors 64-55 in the final on Sunday.
England Under-18 Player of the Year Rowell Graham took home MVP honours, finishing with a 15 point, 17 rebound double double on 7/14 shooting whilst adding 3 assists, 2 steals and 3 blocks.
Terrence Mustre led Steve Bucknall’s side in scoring with 16 points in what was a scrappy affair that saw the teams combine for 35% shooting. Dwayne Orija led Westminster with 17 points, Tyrell Isaacs added 12 and Matthew Don had 8 and 15 boards.
2012 Under 18 Final Standings
1) Lewisham Thunder
2) Westminster Warriors
3) Manchester Magic
4) London Greenhouse Pioneers
3rd Place Play-off
Manchester, starting their bench and playing them the majority of the game, had little trouble dispatching of London Greenhouse to take third place, winning 86-68. Manchester saw a balanced scoring effort with every player on the roster scoring at least 4 points led by Jordan Green and Jordan Whelan who had 11 each, whilst Trevor Samuels added 10. Eimantas Zvirbus led London Greenhouse with 15, Adam Raji had 12 and Bennett Grigull finished with 11.
Semi-Final 1
London Pioneers, one of the few Conference teams to ever make it to the Final Fours, got beaten 61-56 by Lewisham in a game that went down to the wire. It was an Omari Coates three with under a minute remaining that provided the cushion the Thunder needed to take the victory. Lewisham were led by Omari Coates and Dwayne Simon who had 13 each, whilst Rowell Graham joined them in double figures with 11. Eimantas Zvirbus had 23 to lead the Conference side, whilst Nathan Hall added 10.
Semi Final 2
Westminster upset Manchester Magic 71-64 behind some clutch play from 1995 born Tyrell Isaacs. Isaacs finished with 23 points, taking over in the final period, scoring 12 points, including 8 of Westminster’s last 10. His partner in crime Dwayne Orija added 14, with Matthew Don also scoring 14. Tom Devitt led Manchester with 14, Jordan Whelan added 13, all in the first half, whilst Tamas Okros had 11.
Under 16 EBL Junior Final Fours
Manchester Magic successfully defended their Under-16 title with a 75-66 victory over NASSA in the 2012 final on Saturday.
Tamas Okros was named MVP, finishing with 18 points and 16 rebounds to lead the Northern side to victory and spoil NASSA’s perfect record on the season.
Patrick Whelan added 17 points for Manchester, Matthew Austin had 14 points and 9 rebounds whilst Joe Swindells added 11 points, 6 rebounds and 8 assists. NASSA were led by Joe Mvuezolo’s 23 points, Myles Laurent-Smart added 20 including a number of crowd-pleasing plays, whilst Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye had 15.
2012 Under 16 Final Standings
1) Manchester Magic
2) NASSA
3) Westminster Warriors
4) Northampton Nets Phoenix
3rd Place Play-off
Westminster Warriors had little trouble dispatching of Northampton Nets Phoenix, with an 85-55 victory, led by Dwayne Orija’s 32 points. Gela Karumidze added 20 for Westminster, whilst Luke Lewis and Mohamed Janneh had 11 each for Northampton.
Semi-Final 1
Manchester Magic beat Westminster 75-61. Manchester were led by Pharroh Gordon’s 15 points, all of which came in the first half, Tamas Okros aded 15, whilst Patrick Whelan added 10. Dwayne Orija had 27 for Warriors, with Jonathan Joseph adding 11.
Semi Final 2
NASSA had a hard time putting away Northampton, but ultimately came away with a 57-52 victory. Joe Mvuezolo and Michael Ebose led NASSA with 15 each, whilst Luke Lewis had 11 for Northampton and Jamie Percival added 10.
Under 14 EBL Junior Final Fours
Manchester Magic successfully defended their Under-14 title with a 90-64 victory over Notts Nova in the 2012 final.
Hamad Ali, Manchester’s 6’5″ big was awarded the MVP trophy, as he finished with a 33 point, 16 rebound double double. Matthew Miller added 17 points for Magic, whilst Ricardo Eaton-Barnes had 10 points and 9 assists. Notts were led by Luke Mitchell who had 26 points before fouling out in as many minutes, with Keagan Allen having 16 points and 12 rebounds (9 offensive) and Hakim Williams adding 12 points and 7 blocks.
2012 Under 14 Final Standings
1) Manchester Magic
2) Notts Nova
3) Haringey Hawks
4) Worthing Thunder Juniors
3rd Place Play-off
Haringey Hawks got past Worthing Thunder 72-70 to take third place. Arbnor Haliti and Oli Chen had 12 each to lead Haringey. Denny Burling led Worthing with 19, whilst Keanu Kellet added 12.
Semi-Final 1
Manchester Magic beat Haringey 88-69. Hamad Ali had 30 points to lead Manchester, with Alex Cochrane chipping in 15. Courtney Grant-Allen had 28 to lead Haringey, whilst Tolu Babalola added 15 and Rayon Brown (99′ born!) 13.
Semi Final 2
Notts Nova dismantled Worthing Thunder Juniors 72-43, led by Luke Mitchell’s 26 points (and an unconfirmed 9 assists and 12 steals), whilst Keagan Allen added 12. Worthing were led by Keanu Kellet’s 12 point, whilst Gregory Umeh joined him as the only other player in double figures with 10.
Notes
- Myles Laurent-Smart (all 5’7” of him) got up for a big one handed dunk in the closing seconds of the final!
- Overall standard was disappointingly low
- Notts’ Luke Mitchell (1998 born!) is definitely one to watch for the future.
- Lewisham’s point guard Terrence Mustre has got very nice game – good vision, an ability to get into the lane and a nice pull up jumpshot.
- In the women’s – Haringey took the U18 title (their fourth straight), Sevenoaks took the U16 title, Southend won the U14 title.
- Tamas Okros added his second straight U16 Final Four MVP to his trophy cabinet.
- Rowell Graham owned the vast majority of the highlights from the weekend (see his three dunks from the final), whilst Laurent-Smart and NASSA had the rest!
- Both U16 semi-finals were a lot closer than anyone expected – it seemed to be a forgone conclusion it would be a NASSA – Manchester final, but both Northampton and Westminster proved tough tests, despite lacking the talent of NASSA or Manchester.
- In the U16 final, you have to wonder whether not having lost a game all season was actually detrimental to NASSA. As soon as Manchester took the lead, they got rattled and appeared to have lost hope way before the final buzzer sounded, despite being within striking distance throughout.
- In the U18 final, Lewisham came out with a focus on stopping Tyrell – doubling him every time he received the ball. He never got a chance to get going, ending up with 12 points on 4/14 shooting.
Did you get to the EIS? Thoughts on the weekend? Surprise results? Leave a comment!
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{ 26 comments… read them below or add one }
I personally feel greatly disappointed in the overall stranded of some of the referees i felt as if a few of them wrecked the game and felt both Manchester team under 18s men and women had the worse pic of referees for semi finals especially the women they had there game wrecked some of the calls made in that game where laughable. Final 4s should be for refs fully developed not devolping refs
I agree wholeheartedly…
The standard of refereeing was well below par, and at times mystifying!! If this is to be the pinnacle of the National game for young players, why do we have inexperienced refs that, let’s face it, ultimately change the course of games with poor/indecisive decisions? The amount of times that there was lack of communication between refs and coaches were laughable… the haringey vs eastside girls semi was one instance where the coach was positively crazed by the poor refereeing, it bordered on dangerous…poor refeereeing and man/game management ensued throughout the weekend. Also why did the boys u.16 final have two northern premier refs presiding over the game, it seemed like a beano out there… disappointing really – but it has been going downhill for a few years now…something needs to be done!!!!
clearly this is people from manchester moaning because they lost a couple games suck it up ya lost try next year and lose again
I enjoyed the U18 final – which was physical and competetive. Graham was deserved MVP and the difference in the game – when he had the ball in his hands you felt something was going to happen. I was a bit surprised by the overall level of fundamentals – plenty of cross-overs and splapped backboards but disappointingly few converted open layups and free-throws. Also no post play to speak of from either side. Having said that, it was a pressure game between two comitted teams with some nice highlights.
All of these points can be developed by the following-
Referees can be improved with close monitoring from higher level refs or someone from EB running refreshers courses or failing that only pass people that deserve to pass the course and no giving people certificates to officiate just because the EB needs more refs and they dont want to fail anybody. If we want to improve standards then we need to look at the NGB of our sport!
To improve the overall skills on display during the Final 4′s e.g. post play, ball handling variations etc, the coaches should take the priority of winning and personal reputation and throw it on the back seat and encourage players the develop their fundamental skills that the APC’s facilitate but coaches can not be bothered reinforcing. Players will become good players or better with sound fundamentals but not with 2 national titles at the age of 15 and no personal scope to develop because they feel at the top of their game. Winning leads young players into a false sense of placement and its does not bring out the improvement attitude and reflects upon the coaches who install the wrong aims season after season.
Standards must improve from us as coaches but EB must enforce them from above and until this happens officiating and player skill sets will be as weak as this Final 4′s demonstrated.
Unfortunately, as has been commented before, there is no light at the end of the tunnel.
It would be far better if the APC’s chose players who already have strong fundamentals, instilled from their clubs, rather than spend the time teaching them how to pass and catch and do a standard lay-up!
Why so many negative comments?
I thought we have quite a few junior teams in Div A and B?
Seniors we have Mens in A, and U20 women in A… thats pretty good is it not?
We have Division A teams with the set-up this country has. As far as I see the only way is up and that their is a light at the end of whatever tunnel John B is talking about.
Totally agree about the appalling refereeing!
The Herfordshire girls game had shocking refereeing decisions as did the Haringey boys game as well as the ones mentioned above. Throughout the season the refereeing has been below par with complete inconsistencies from one game to another and expected the finals to have been better, but sadly this was not the case. Of course, any complaints are ignored as the rule book basically states that the refs decision is final so they can do what they like!! We saw ‘travels’ called on players making good moves under the basket, but the refs clearly not aware of ther difference!!
Poor organisation left Haringey Hawks with less than 20 minutes respite between the Manchester and the 3rd place playoff. Are these boys really expected to play their best with no lunch,no break with two games virtually back to back? At the end of this game, the canteen was closed and the hot dogs had run out too!
I feel some points r valid but others are not so true some referee are good some are bad you can only work with the tools your given. Coaches have a right to there own option and so do players but what about ref does he or she have any right of option? if I said the poor display of free I saw this weekend was blow par am I right the amount of bad passes bad foot work poor coaching nah because as I ref people feel like you dont have the a right to an option of your own on any thing. Makes me laugh because its easy to say we lost because of the ref do what about the team who won with the bad ref. coach who tell players that push the blame away from them selfives and the finds an escape goat easy person to blame for losing hey let’s just say its the refs fault that’s why we lack so far behind in sports because it’s in our nature to find a fall guy.
OMG…WHO SAW MYLES LAURENT-SMART THROW DOWN THAT ONE HANDED DUNK IN THE LAST SECONDS OF THE U16 FINALS?!?!?
I watched the Final Fours and while I can agree that more experienced refs for such an occasion may be better than Level 1 trainees this is something that both Coaches have no control over. The Coaches have control over things like recruitment, game craft and adapting to conditions during games. If refs are calling reacing in or slight contact for contested shots during block attempts then adapt. The team I was supporting lost the Final but it is too easy to blame things outta your control.
yeah i bleam weak coaches n weak teams not refs even doe sum referee do suck i still think it goes both ways n forget westminster warriors they r so pants its unreal
What a well balanced and thought out argument written in language understood by all.
Why are morons like this given the time of day?
They need to scrap the 3rd/4th games or space the event over two days. It is very hard for any coach or player to ‘get up’ for a game like this having just lost a national semi-final.
Equally, playing two games in a day favours the teams with the deeper benches. Yes, before you say it this then demonstrates that the teams with the deeper benches have the stronger ‘team’ but we all know that in reality, some other teams might have won their second game if their main guys hadn’t already played 35/40 minutes of basketball.
I wouldn’t have a major issue with this other than the fact that you get all the way to the final fours playing your rotation a certain way and then have to adjust for the biggest and most important games. It’s harsh on the kids who’s bodies are giving up on them in that second game because they havent had sufficient rest, food or water. 20 Minutes between games at the national finals is a joke.
Don’t many national – and international – tournaments play more than one game in a day?
The referee-ing is even worse than the standard of play.
Thats sport! If you want to play at a high level internationally etc. then you need to get use to that,its not just going on the court and playing basketball you need to have some level of fitness, nutrition awareness and mentally ready. Back to Back games you should be ready for, yes resting up is needed but, what do you want? Do you want to succeed, at what level and what price?
1.Terry i am not from Manchester Im from Nottingham
2. i do agree with many points made but the overall refereeing was poor.
poor calls. poor positioning. poor signals. poor movement. . the stranded was below Parr this year agreed many teams under performed maybe, but things need to change. I believe the devolpment of players up north needs to be improved as well. most players selected for England are from south or London. i Dont believe many north players are being given the opportunity. Because mainly the coaches are from the south therefore players are not developing. there are very many talented players from the north that are being over looked.
I agree with anonymous about the many good players in the north are not given the same opportunity of that of the south because it’s not what you know, it’s who you know. There are quite a few good players of ’97 that haven’t had a look in due to the cut off and therefore the older players of this age group have not been seen. The Finals of the u’14′s had players with stats better than some of the current players involved in the England development yet these players are not even mentioned. Why is this? I ask you to look at the stats and see who stood up and played with skill and talent and are worthy of being included and a chance of being developed.
I dont think i have ever been to a competition or a game where the general concensus was that the refs were good. I think the main problem is the consistancy of the refs and how they adapt to a game.
In the U18 mens, all teams played solid defence and wanted to run and get to basket. so why would the refs call so many fouls that slows the game and call the 50/50′s when rarely either team wants the call to be made.
i know as a player that as long as i can play defence like im getting defended im happy. when your not sure how a ref is going to call a game because hes being so inconsistant with the calls its difficult to give 100% to defence.
i genuinely think it ruins the game to have a foul called every possession that each team has, the refs should use initiative and let the game run more freely, especially when that would have suited all 4 teams in the U18′s specifically
At junior level it is essential to have good officials. If players get away with travels, fouls, illegal dribbles, etc., then these players will not learn to develop good skills and fundamentals.
The standard of junior basketball is poor as it is, with good referees it might improve a little.
At this level all fouls, travels and so on, should be called.
I’ll pay good money to see coaches referee if u never ref a game how can u judge others every one is a critic , but noone can do better. That’s the problem with sports in this country, coaches pushing the blame on to referees rather than themselves or their team.
Not quite sure how to categorize the previous comment!!!!!!!!
It is a FACT that the standard of referees is exrtremely poor. Maybe one can ask how many referees have actually played the game at a high level. Playing the game at some local level is no criteria to qualify a referee. Some might say that even playing the game at a high level is no criteria.
As a coach I was also a level 1 (as the highest level was at the time – apart from FIBA) referee, so I guess I do have some qualification to make a comment.
I agree, totally, that many coaches will blame the referee(s) for losing a game, but, as has been shown in recent tournaments, the present standard of overall officia\ting is so poor that it can do nothing to improve the playing standard of the game.
One of the problems of course is simply that officials do not practise, certainly not every day, or as many times a week as players (should) do.
I wonder how many officials watch video of themselves (when video is available), or “discuss” their performance with coaches (at the right time). How many go on courses as often as they can, rather than those who just say “I can not afford to go on courses” ? (When courses are .made available for officials)
How many officials will select the games they want to referee, rathere than just accepting all requests?
Maybe if the Administration was to properley constitue and support an association for officials that would be responsible for monitoring, supporting, and mentoring officials, organizing frequent courses, attracting first class officials from abroad etc. – AND making certain course compulsory, maybe there might be some improvement.
It is always the riposte of officials, that coaches simply blame officials.
I would also suggest that t should be mandatory for all coaches to hold a certain level of officiating award as a qualification to holding any coaching award.
Sorry I disagree (coach or part time fiba ref) you dont know what your on about. If you think you need better referees to improve your game then you might as well say, the level that teams play warrant the level the ref is. What i mean is if your team plays whack then the referee should be whack too. Its like buying primark clothes and expecting M&S quaility LOL it just dont add up!!
I am not sure that the previous comment is worth a reply.
However, if referees allow young players to “get away” with travels,illegal dribbles, fouls etc., then this most certainly does not help these players to correctly develop skills.
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