Haris Memorial Tournament 2014 – Day 1 Recap

The 2014 Haris Memorial Tournament tipped off on Saturday night, seeing 8 teams from across Europe & the USA take to the floor at the Amaechi Basketball Centre in Manchester

England U18s vs CB Cornella
England U18s had little trouble dispatching of CB Cornella in their opening game of Haris 2014, cruising to a 91-37 victory.

Big man Henri Langton was the key player earlier, getting inside for buckets, to give England a cushion that they would never give up against the smaller Spanish side who won the tournament in 2012.

Head Coach Karl Brown went deep into his rotation, giving everyone minutes as his squad, who are the defending champions opened the tournament with a win.

Carl Wheatle and Kyle Carey led England’s scoring with 16 points a piece while Sam Japhet-Mathias had 12 in limited minutes.

For Cornella, Xavi Palet had 10 points, Pol Peinado had 8 and Jaume Lobo added 5 points.

Manchester Magic vs Boulazac Basket
Manchester Magic’s near-incredible fourth quarter comeback came up short as they fell 87-88 to French side Boulazac.

Down 17 with 7 minutes remaining, a huge run inspired by guard Joe Swindells saw them get it neck and neck in the final minute, trading huge baskets before Boulazac hit the game winning lay up with under 10 seconds remaining.

“Despite the loss, we played well,” said Magic Head Coach Ollie Verbukas. “The first couple of minutes the kids were very nervous. We didn’t rebound well at all and that’s the main reason why we lost, but I’ve always said it’s not about one game like this, it’s about the process.”

Manchester guard and England U18 Raheem Idris had 34 points to lead all scorers, but missed the potential game winner just before the horn, Swindells added 17 points, Hamad Ali 13 points before leaving with injury and Junior Oscar 9 points

Joshua Norbal had 30 points to lead Boulazac, with Alexandre Aygalenq having 12 points and Michel Murte 12.

England U16s vs Tilton Prep
Tilton Prep dominated against the younger England U16 squad, physically dominating their opponents on the way to a 94-58 blowout win.

Northeastern commit Anthony Green was the early threat, dunking everything and protecting the paint, but it was Franklin Porter who led the squad with 24.

England did a good job hanging around in the first quarter, but the second quarter proved to be too much as Tilton turned it into a dunk fest.

“It’s a good learning opportunity for us,” said England U16 Head Coach Alan Keane. “We’re clearly a lot smaller, a lot weaker physically but that goes with the age difference. All in all I’m pretty pleased because for me personally it’s given a bench mark as to where we are, also taking into consideration that there are five guys that we are without due to injury and absence.

“All on the whole I’ve asked these guys to deliver some stuff and the message I gave them pre-game and halftime they delivered, not as consistently as I would like but at this stage after two camps the guys are trying to do what I’m asking them to do.”

Manchester’s Kaiyem Cleary led England with 12 points, Cameron Bett had 9 points while Josh Edwards & Zion Tordoff had 6 points each.

“You jump on a plane, you get over here you don’t know how the guys are going to respond to being tired, different rules, different culture,” said Tilton Head Coach Marcus O’Neil.

“They’re excited to be in a different country but I thought they had a pretty good focus and they’re a pretty talented older group so I was happy, given the circumstances, with how they played.”

Point guard Brett Hanson had 17, while Robert Martin finished with 13.

St Andrews vs Sligo All Stars
Irish side Sligo managed to keep it close for most of the first half before a big run saw St Andrews get out in front to roll to a 116-60 victory.

Chancellor Ellis had 21 points to lead St Andrews, Aaron Wheeler finished with 19 points, while Seth Kourtesis and Nate Duda had 13 and 12 respectively.

Sligo were led by Tobi Brockmann’s 15 points, Cian Lally’s 11 points & Donal Glennon’s 9 points

Schedule for Day 2

11am: Tilton vs England U18/CB Cornella vs England U16
1pm: Manchester vs St Andrews/ Boulazac vs Sligo
4pm: Tilton vs CB Cornella/England U18 vs England U16
6pm: St Andrews vs Boulazac/Manchester vs Sligo

Notes

• England U18 starters: Alex Roberts, Aidan Gastaldi-Davies, Kyle Carey, Carl Wheatle & Henri Langton
• Tilton are looking like the team to beat after Day 1 – they are currently 8-0 on the regular season back in the US
• Tilton (and St Andrews) are used to playing the 35 second shot clock in the US, O’Neil said it comes up quick, but otherwise was happy with how his team adjusted.
• Hamad Ali (who is also an England U18) is out for the remainder of the tournament after sustaining an eye injury against Boulazac.
• England’s Sam Japhet-Mathias is back in the country for the first time since heading to the US. As with most players who make the jump, he has put on noticeable weight and looked good; drawing fouls and making some nice post moves inside. He is receiving interest and offers from a number of a high major Division 1 programmes.
• More to come – follow @Hoopsfix on Twitter for live updates over the course of the tournament.