News Update - 2007
Academy End Season on a High Note
English Schools National Academies Cup Finals.
Wed 23/5 (SPACe) - HCCA U19 Women 47-54 Barking Abbey
Thur 24/5 (Barking Abbey School) - Barking Abbey U19 Men 69-77 HCCA
Hackney Community College Basketball Academy's gruelling competitive fixture schedule finally came to a close on a high note last Thursday (24/5) with the U19 Men making a clean sweep of all 3 National College titles for an unprecedented 3rd consecutive year following a 77-69 victory over local rivals Barking Abbey School Academy. The HCCA winning run at U19 National level now stands at 4 seasons and further cements the Shorditch-based programme as the Premier Academy in the UK.
In a fierce encounter played at Barking Abbey's own school sport centre, HCCA overcame both a well organised side and highly partizan home support to take the title by an 8pt margin.
Barking Abbey reached the Final with an impressive away win over last year's runners-up Loreto College from Manchester. They also registered an excellent 1/4 Final win over former National Champions Moulton College turning over a 14pt half-time deficit on the road.
Meanwhile, HCCA recorded 20+pt home wins over Filton College Academy and York College Academy to set up the Final against a team they had demolished by over 30pts in the London Group stages of the same competition before Christmas.
A Barking Abbey side containing former HCCA players Fola Adeleke and Joe Ikhinmwin started brightly to take a 14/11 first quarter lead over an HCCA side missing former Barking Abbey man Victor Ogunimiyi and England U18 International Tega Orogun only able to give limited minutes due to a long-term ankle problem. However, by the second quarter, it became apparant the home side had decided that Dan Garrard was the man to beat HCCA from inside. Coaches Sol Ayinla and Tony Garbelotto put defensive strategies in place to dry up supply to the 6ft 11 inch Centre. This paid immediate dividends as a mixture of full-court zone and man to man press defenses saw the defending champions take an 8pt lead into the break as HCCA guards Eddie Morrison, Leigh Cascoe , Shaz Hussain, Tom Hughes and Faruq Bilal were used in heavy rotation to drive into the paint and apply defensive intensity whilst Darrell Bethune provided a threat from beyond the arc.
HCCA increased the lead to 12pts from the re-start but an astute Barking Abbey time-out saw the home team claw their way back to level the match mid-way through the 3rd stanza. However, the extra effort and fouls conceded by Barking Abbey to get back into contention took a heavy toll as HCCA broke away to post another 10pt run, reduced to an 8pt cushion (51/43) going into the final quarter.
A comparitively high scoring final period saw both teams maintain parity at 26 each as HCCA kept the challengers at arms length relatively comfortably to register a 77/69 victory. Fola Adeleke fouled out with 3mins remaining putting an end to any faint hopes of victory for the Essex Cup winners. HCCA Captain Eddie Morrison ended his U19 career in style with a match-high 20pts. Ali Fullah also demonstrated why he's arguably the most improved U18 player in England as he eclipsed both GB U20 International Ikhinmwin and Garrard at both ends of the court registering a double figure pts contribution. Dave Ajumobi also continued his excellent end-of-season form. However, Courtney Van-Beest put in an MVP performance scoring 12pts from both inside and the perimeter as well as putting in a tremendous defensive effort to deny the much larger Barking Abbey forwards any real momentum. For Barking Abbey, 6'7" England Forward Ben Russell posted 17pts (mainly from the perimter) while John Johnson was the only other Abbey player to get into double figures.
The previous day, HCCA U19 Women almost pulled off a major shock in defence of their English Schools National Academies Final against a Barking Abbey side, 12 deep and containing at least 6 England Junior Internationals, recruited from throughout London and the South East by GB Women's and Barking Abbey Head Coach Mark Clark. These 2 sides had been head and shoulders above any other U19 College Academy teams in the UK with no other teams capable of getting within 50pts of either all season.
With just 6 eligible and fit players to call on, the HCCA players and coaches knew that only a near-perfect execution of their game plan would be capable of over-turning Barking Abbey. And for nearly 3/4s of the Final, an improbable HCCA win looked on the cards.
After tight opening exchanges, HCCA took the lead with 3mins remaining of the 1st quarter and held it until inside the final 3mins of the match, at one point holding a 10pt advantage on the back of Barking Abbey turn-overs induced by excellent HCCA pressing defence.
Key HCCA performances came from centre Jo Djoboga who hit 15pts and held off the considerable threat from the 6ft+ England International pairing of Kashmere Joseph and Mary Durojaye who Djoboga restricted to just 12pts between them. Arlynne Rodriguez and Lorrell Shirley (9pts and at times unguardable) ran the set plays and fast breaks to great effect alternating point guard duties whilst Bobbi Thompson (10pts) provided an outside shooting threat and often found herself on the end of the HCCA break. Storm Adams helped keep up the required levels of passion and defensive intensity lending valuable support inside to Jo Djoboga. However, this committment arguably proved HCCA's downfall. With 3mins of the 3rd quarter remaining, HCCA captain Fiona Scarlett threw herself at a loose ball, accidentally clashed heads with a Barking Abbey player and was hospitalised with concussion. This left HCCA with just 5 players and over one quarter to defend a 6pt lead.
Despite great defence, HCCA's offensive threat inevitably dried up as Barking Abbey were able to draw on their 9 player rotation to wear down the defending champions and to take the lead down the stretch. Despite being on the wrong side of a 7pt winning margin, the HCCA girls were left contemplating what might have been without the freak accident to Fiona Scarlett. For Barking Abbey, Harriet Yea hit a match-high 20pts whilst Mrashi Karumba put in an MVP performance with 12pts and some outstanding defence.
HCCA Women stiil had a great season, winning both National College titles, a SESSA League and Cup double for the 3rd year running and only losing two matches all year (both to Barking Abbey who remained unbeated in 06/07). 7 of the 8 HCCA Women players also helped Wandsworth Sting go unbeaten in the London Met Basketball League winning the Premier Div and Cup.
A delighted HCCA Coach Sol Ayinla was full of praise for his young players;
" The success we've had has meant that our end of season schedule has been nothing short of brutal for both our Men and Women. We work our players extremely hard and our expectations are very high on and off court. In turn, our players expect a huge amount of themselves and each year they have to carry the burden of all the players that have gone before and have kept us unbeaten at Mens U19 level for 4 years. We're all extremely proud that this group have kept the legacy going. Their record is outstanding, losing just 2 matches all season and both in Cup Finals after overtime. Most importantly, our players have all made huge strides developmentally, our main job at the HCC Academy. Having Tony (Garbelotto) coaching at The Academy and the strong links between us and. BBL Club London United has given our players the opportunity to train regularly with GB Internationals such as Chris Haslam and Tarick Johnson. Over the past week, Academy Graduates and BBL stars Darius Defoe and Perry Lawson along side veteran Steve Ogunjimi and Samuel Toluwase (back from College in Canada) have been training with us and helping with our preparations. No other Academy Programme in the UK can boast this sort of opportunity or support and our results speak for themselves. We shouldn't forget also that our Women have won all 3 National U19 titles over the last 2 season, another fantastic acheivement".
HCCA U19 Men; Eddie Morrison, Leigh Cascoe, Shaz Hussain, Darrell Bethune, Dave Ajumobi, Courtney Van- Beest, Ali Fullah, Tom Hughes, Tega Orogun, Faruq Bilal, Oliver Ladlow, Victor Ogunimiyyi.
HCCA U19 Women: Jo Djoboga, Arlynne Rodriguez, Bobbi-Jay Thompson, Fiona Scarlett, Lorrell Shirley, Storm Adams.
Coaches; Sol Ayinla, Tony Garbelotto, Andrea Norton.
Academy Administrator; Chris Morris
In summary, HCCA teams played 90 matches in 14 competitions in 06/07 winning 83 and losing 7. Of these, HCCA teams won 10 Cups, Leagues and Tournaments and finished runners-up in 3. In the SESSA Premier League, the Men's B Team finished a creditable 4th. Over 40players represented The Academy.
Role of Honour 06/07
Senior Men - LMBL Premier Div Champs (unbeaten), LMBL Cup and SESSA Cup Runner's-Up (27/2)
U19 Men - British Colleges National Champions and National Cup Winners.
British Colleges Eastern England Champions.
ESBBA National Academies Cup Winners.
Men's B Team - SESSA Premier League
4th place. (4/3)
Senior Women - SESSA Premier League and Cup Winners
U19 Women - British Colleges National Champions and National Cup Winners.
ESBBA National Academies Cup Runners -Up.
British Colleges Eastern England Champions.
For further information, contact Chris Morris via this email address or call him on 07786 485223.
Chris Morris
HCCA Basketball
29/5/07
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