UEL Men’s Basketball second team responded in fine fashion after last week’s defeat to Surrey in a big way by defeating Imperial College London 78-50 at SportsDock.
Solid Game Plan
UEL’s game plan to start the match was clear from the get go as they applied the pressure to the Imperial ball-handers to force turnovers. This seemed to work wonders instantly as Rusarn Peters found Kieran Henry-Fellows for a transition three-pointer. Peters also seemed to find his scoring touch early on, converting an and-one right at the rim.
Several members of UEL’s second unit contributed in building their first quarter lead. Daniel Sharp’s bruising screen allowed Henry-Fellows some space off the glass, BJ Manalo went into his bag of tricks to finish at the basket, and Oladimeji Okanlawon rose high for a fast-break dunk after a turnover from the away side.
At the end of the first quarter UEL led 23-13.
Brief Fightback
The second quarter was where Imperial started to find more of a rhythm in their offense, making several lay-ups which led to an early timeout for UEL. However, normal business returned at the restart, as Imperial could not handle UEL’s defensive solidarity, resulting in several free throws.
Towards the end of the second quarter there was a standout play of the match as Okanlawon posterized Imperial’s centre for a massive dunk that got the crowd up out of their seats.
At the half-time interval UEL were up by 14 points, leading 41-27.
Classy Finish
The way UEL started the third quarter, many would have thought they were losing, however they showed great intensity and aggressiveness when defending and running in transition for easy points, particularly a three-pointer and another breakaway dunk for high-flyer Okanlawon.
The home side held Imperial to only four points in the third quarter as they led 58-31.
Both sides would trade buckets in a pretty uneventful fourth quarter, as UEL implemented a zone defense to take Imperial out of their offensive sets. The last highlight play of the match was once again by Okanlawon with a put-back dunk after a miss by Tyrelle Blake.
The final buzzer sounded and UEL were victorious securing the 78-50 victory.
‘Win Motivates Us For Next Week’
UEL’s starting Centre, Curtis Hayden, stressed the importance of getting back to winning ways this week. He said “This win was very important as it motivates us for our next week’s game which is away, so we’ll try and take this mentality into that one.”
