Basketball - Michaelmas 2008

Date: Tuesday 16 September 2008

Basketball has 'taken off' in the last several seasons as Leigh Millard has revived the club, and arranged a series of fixtures, largely against Canterbury High School, and the traditional Inter-House competitions. This term we welcome Mr Ian Urey as Head of Geography, and also as player, coach, and official, to strengthen further still the impact of this excellent sport.

Yesterday's first match of the season was against Canterbury High, who brought a technically excellent and well-drilled squad to the Sports' Hall. The SES squad is now a year more experienced and has recruited some useful additions over the summer - Zhenhao Zhang and Zhaoqi Tong - to name but two, but one practice session last week was not enough to prepare for a tough match.

The final score was 78 - 55 to the High School, but on occasions in the second quarter fluid attacking, and precise shooting suggested a different outcome. In the third quarter, however, we had no answer to the application of a 'full court press', and threw away possession to concede a stream of points.

Arnie Dunning was the SES top scorer with 17, followed by Zhaoqi with 10, and Zhiheng Liu with 9. Ben Easter performed heroics under our own basket, winning rebound after rebound. For next week's return fixture the focus needs to be on team discipline, and decision making, - not to mention putting into practice a coach's words of wisdom!

The return match, this Wednesday, ended with a similar result, with the High School winning by 64 points to 42. Without Ben Easter, playing in goal in the 1st XI football match, the SES squad lacked height and presence under the basket at both ends. Nonetheless, a much better, and well-controlled performance kept the team in touch after three quarters; it was only in the final ten minutes that the High School got away from a tiring team.

Once again Arnie Dunning was top scorer, this time with 13 points, closely followed by Ricky Ling, who had one of his best games with 10. Ultimately the boys from Knights Avenue had just too much experience, and power in the drive, for us to hang on in.

Next Wednesday a fixture against Kent College is in the calendar - TBC. Hopefully it will be, and we can pit our skills against a different opposition, who may not be quite so well drilled and organised as the Canterbury teams.