The University of East London Men’s Second basketball team finished their season strongly with victory against the University of Sussex, 87 – 65.
UEL finish the season in third place in the Men’s South Eastern Tier 1 Division.
It was a solid performance from UEL on their home court in SportsDock, Beckton, as Mahamed Omar, Lindley Turnball and captain Reece Quinland stole the show with great performances.
Terrific Turnball
After the game, Rising East spoke to UEL star Lindley Turnball. He was delighted with his team’s performance saying, “We started badly but I saw no one’s head drop.”
He continued, “We fought back and got the win, it’s a great way to end.”
Slow Starters
It was a frustrating opening for the East Londoners as they missed a few good chances, while on the other hand, Sussex took full advantage of their early momentum as they tried to bounce back from a narrow two-point defeat in their previous game. For UEL, Omar was brought into the game for the second half of the first quarter and begun the comeback with several accurate three pointers as his side applied pressure on the Sussex lead.
Instant Improvement
Entering the second quarter, UEL continued to make more baskets eventually stretching out the lead between them and the visitors. Additionally, the Pheonix’s defence was exceptionally good as they stopped Sussex from getting numerous rebounds and even made them run down the shot clock forcing turnovers.
Securing The Win
Coming into the second half on the game the University of Sussex were not as sharp as they were at the beginning of the match. Their shots became inconsistent which gave UEL the upper hand as they showed their clinical attacking side. East London were great in transition of play from defence to attack too.
Sussex showed fighting spirit as they tried to close the gap in the score line but in the final quarter the hosts held them off and it was not enough for a late comeback.
