Myerscough College Achieve Dynamic Double At Dynamik National School Championship Finals

Myerscough College U17 girls and U19 men came away from Leicester Arena on Thursday having taken out a twin triumph at the Dynamik National Schools Championship Finals Day.

Myerscough’s U17 girls got the ball rolling with a 73-52 victory against their Barking Abbey counterparts before the U19 men took to the floor and just pipped Greig City Academy to the prize – and plaudits – by a six-point margin (70-64).

Coaching duo Mike Bernard and Troy Culley helped to mastermind those respective successes for the Preston-based programme from the sidelines, although the latter was quick to humbly point out that much of the credit belonged to those who stepped out onto the court and not necessarily stood off of it.

“It has been a very good day and it’s a testament to the kids’ hard work,” Culley commented. “They’re the ones putting the time in every single day. I can only put these kids in a position to go and play. They’re the ones on the floor who actually have to go and execute and they brought it home today. We just put them in a position to go and do that. I said to the kids in the huddle at the end that they really represented our programme well today and I’m very proud of them all.”

John Madejski Academy (JMA) Rockets claimed the U19 women’s crown with a dominant 115-34 win over Blackpool Sixth Form College.

“We’ve got a small, but really committed, group of girls,” explained JMA Rockets head coach Matt Johnson. “They’ve been working so very hard and, to get such a big win here in Leicester, it’s just a credit to the way that our girls have performed. We’ve got some especially talented girls and a lot of them are very young as well, so we’re looking forward to seeing how they perform in the future.”

Meanwhile, Loreto College clinched the U17 boys’ title with a slender 61-59 result against Charnwood College Riders courtesy of a last-gasp breakaway and dunk by MVP Josh Pearce.

“It was a bit of a scrappy final and it came down really to the first team that didn’t do as many turnovers,” Loreto College head coach Peter Paraskeva stated. “We only had eight players today. We were missing our best player and we still got the job done without him. I’m really happy with a couple of our guys filling in at point guard when they’ve never had to play in that particular position before. We did alright in the circumstances!”

Elsewhere, St Bonaventure’s RC High School won the Boys’ U14 Premier tournament with a 77-46 result over Raines Foundation School, but went on to lose the U16 Boys’ Premier Final 73-58 to Barking Abbey.

The remaining finals take place in May at the prestigious National Basketball Performance Centre, Manchester.

Courtesy of Basketball England.