Manchester Magic Take Under-14 NBL Crown

By Sam Neter on May 6, 2019

Image Credit: Basketball England

Manchester Magic used a balanced team effort to overcome London United 76-67 and claim the 2019 Under-14 Playoff title.

Olu Akinlade picked up MVP honours with 16 points and 14 rebounds as he was a handful in the paint, leading another three players with 15+ points.

Lucas Ricketts (18 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists) and Ben Brown (15 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists) both provided a versatile scoring threat, and Tom Kelly (16 points, 7 rebounds) was also solid as Manchester spread the load.

That offensive output allowed Manchester to lead from the opening tip to final buzzer, but London United certainly made the game interesting late on.

With Manchester up by double digits for most of the second half, United found their groove down the stretch and reduced their deficit to just a single point midway through the 4th. That spurred the North West side into life though and they went on a 16-6 run to put the game to bed.

Captain Liam Campbell top scored for London United with 16 points to go with seven boards, Aaqib Khan scored 13 points and Joe Codner added 10 more.

Box score.

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