Under 16 Boys reach National Final for a second year running!

After travelling to Nottingham on Friday 11th May, we arrived at the Wildcats Arena to compete in our second National Final 4 in 2 years. We met our quarter Final opponents from last year, Holy Trinity School, in this years semi final and started extremely well. We went 12 - 6 up after the first quarter and extended this lead by 2 at half time. A strong third quarter, where our defence was a lot more positive and aggressive, saw us win it 19 - 12, giving us a 46 - 31 lead going into the last quarter. We played smart in the last quarter, conserving energy for the final and held our opponenets at arms length, winning 52 - 40. Kieron top scored with 21 points, Jamie hit 14 points and Aidan 9. Jack, Ben and particularly Josh played some great defence and everyone contributed well to the win.
Our early tip off (9.30am) in the semi meant we could watch a fast and competitive second semi final between Greig Academy and Danum College, which Greig eventually won 75 - 59 after a really tight first three quarters.
Our final was a real clash of styles with Greig Academy, Hackney playing a fast break and aggressive man to man defensive system. We played a more controlled team based offence and help defence, where we would back up the man marking the player with the ball. We started well and were only 3 down after the first quarter and although we stayed in touch and were only 4 down at half time, we had missed a number of inside shots which could have given us a lead. The Greig number 9 hit 29 points and hit 3 important 3 pointers which pulled them 8 points clear at the end of the third. Kieran had an outstanding game, scoring an impressive 44 points also hitting three 3 point shots and would have been MVP in the final if we had managed to overturn this 8 point deficit. We worked extremely hard in the fourth and won it by 2 points. Thi however meant a 6 point loss, no disgrace against a very strong Academy team. It was a great performance and the result only hinged on very small margins and on another day we may well have come out on top.
The Under 16 boys squad have been tremendous over their whole time at Beaumont, winning a District Championships,  two County Cups, runners up in one, a National Championships and Runners up in this years Nationals, They also remained unbeaten for almost two seasons, winning 29 straight games.
The boys were obviously disappointed to lose in the final but when they look back at their record over the last couple of years they should be extremely proud of what they have achieved. Well done to all of the boys who played this year, you have been a credit to Beaumont.   

Beaumont Under 16 Boys National Runners Up 2012
Squad (from left to right)
Luke Hazlehurst; Ben Hackwood; Kieron Gastaldi Davis (c); Max Robson;
Jamie Moroney; Jack Nevin; Aidan Gastaldi Davis; Josh Smithers