Solent Kestrels Pre-Season U18 Tournament Day 1 Mini Recap

By Sam Neter on September 12, 2010

As many of you well know, I’m down in Southampton this weekend for the Solent Kestrels Pre-Season Under 18 tournament. Day 1 is all over and gave a good insight into how the participating teams are looking for next season. After Day 1, Leicester Warriors are the only team who remain undefeated after three games (games of two 15 minute halves).

Each team has two more games to play today before advancing (or not) to the semi-final stages. The standings are as follows;

Standings (Day 1)

Leicester Warriors-3-0
Manchester Magic 2-1
Taunton Tigers-2-1
Reading Rockets-1-2
Solent Kestrels-1-2
UWIC-0-3

Leading Scorers

1st John Gould (Manchester)– 18.6 ppg
2nd Harry Turner (Taunton)– 14.6 ppg
3rd Louis Champion (Reading)– 14.0 ppg

Full Results and Scorers

Game 1-Reading Rockets 53 Taunton Tigers 62
Reading-Louis Champion 13, Taunton- Harry Turner 14
Game 2-Solent Kestrels 59 UWIC 47
Solent- Jack Preston 14, UWIC- S. Lodge 13
Game 3-Leicester Warriors 49 Manchester Magic 48
Leicester- Raphell Thomas Edwards 13, Manchester- John Gould & G Pearson 13
Game 4-Solent Kestrels 56 Taunton Tigers 57
Solent- Ollie Roberts 17, Taunton- Harry Turner & M. Schroder 12
Game 5-Reading Rockets 35 Leicester Warriors 45
Reading- Louis Champion 10, Leicester- Elliott Sentence 19
Game 6-UWIC 26 Manchester Magic 70
UWIC- B. Araya 9, Manchester- John Gould 28
Game 7-Taunton Tigers 41 Leicester Warriors 53
Taunton-Harry Turner 18, Leicester- Raphell Thomas Edwards 9
Game 8-UWIC 32 Reading Rockets 69
Reading-Louis Champion 19, UWIC- B. Araya 9
Game 9-Solent Kestrels 42 Manchester Magic 53
Solent-Jack Preston 17, Manchester John Gould 15

Random Thoughts/Notes

Based on teams at this tournament and other stuff I’ve heard, it seems like it’s gonna be a pretty huge transitional year for Under 18 sides up and down the country. The majority of teams seem to have lost their core guys from last season and have brought through Under 16’s. Most of the guys featuring in this tournament appear to have at least two seasons left in Under 18’s.
As a result of the youthful nature of a lot of these teams, there were a lot of raw projects on display, especially big men.
A huge pick up for Taunton in the office season has been Harry Turner who was playing Milton Keynes U16’s last season. Looking at him, it’s hard to believe the kid is a ’93 born-he’s a monster. Great shooting touch for a guy his size and a beast on the boards, I expect him to do damage this season.
Other standouts on Day 1; Louis Champion of Reading who shot well and showed nice slashing ability, Elliot Sentence of Leicester who was easily the best shooter on Day 1, Raphell Thomas-Edwards, also of Leicester who had his way with pretty much everyone within 15 feet of the basket when he chose to be aggressive and show some nice vision for a guy his size, Jack Preston of Solent, who’s improved massively since I saw him compete at Midnight Madness last summer, John Gould of Manchester who dropped 28 on UWIC (30 minute games) to see him lead all scorers after the first day and Josh McGinn who was easily the best ‘real’ point guard in the competition, helping Manchester get out and run.
No major highlights on Day 1, so looking for big things today!

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