England U16s Beat Belgium, Take Series

Behind a huge all around game from Joshua Ward-Hibbert, England U16’s rode to a comfortable win in the second half beating Belgium U16’s 73-54 yesterday.

Ward-Hibbert, who classes basketball as his second sport behind tennis (!), had 29 points (15/23 shooting), 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and 6 steals to lead his team to a 2-1 come from behind series win after they got routed by 28 points in the first game.

Guddemi had 14, whilst guard Dominic Norton had 8 points and 5 rebounds without missing a shot from the field.

Full play by play and box score can be found here.

I’m going to keep this brief, but a few…

Random Thoughts/Notes

• I only managed to get there for this one game yesterday, but from what I saw was extremely impressed with the Medway Park setup. Looked real professional, there was decent crowds, the game seemed to have actually been advertised (I saw flyers and poster on my way in) and there was even a free bouncy castle!
• For the first time in the 10 or so years I have been around basketball I saw a coach (England Head Coach Simon Fisher) be honest with the refs and tell them the call was going the other way and it was actually Belgium possession. Respect.
• Joshua Ward-Hibbert was impressive. The fact that basketball is his second sport behind tennis (not sure how up to date these are, but check his tennis credentials here) makes it all the more ridiculous.
• I was intrigued to see Kingsley Okoroh who I’ve heard a lot about. Bearing in mind he was the youngest player on the court (I think), having just turned 15, he’s an intriguing prospect. Still extremely raw though.