A decent sized crowd built up in the Edge, ahead of the men’s basketball 2nd team Varsity match. The tip off was won by Leeds Beckett but they couldn’t make their early possession pay, as a well-timed interception by Uni left the Beckett defence flat footed and brought about the first points of the game.
However, Beckett found their rhythm after a wasteful few minutes and a score of 8-20 at the end of the first quarter reflected Uni’s difficulty to retain possession. The second quarter began as a scrappy affair with neither team really getting anywhere. Eventually Beckett began to find the form they showed in the first quarter adding a few points onto the board. Uni were left hoping for a few distance shots and struggled to put anything together within the danger area. The score finished 13-34 at half time in Beckett’s favour.
As play resumed Uni were off to a flyer, instantly scoring 2 points before a great move by the Uni number 5 resulted in the conversion of a free throw. The half was more even with Uni creating some impressive build up play, but they just couldn’t find the finishing touches to get through an impressive Beckett defence. Beckett, however, ended the half strongly leading to an increase in their lead to 27-52 at the end of the third quarter.
The most Uni could hope for now was to win the last quarter which turned out to be an exciting period of end to end action. Every time Uni put a few points onto the board Beckett responded and did the same. Beckett scored arguably the best basket of the game with a terrific team goal late on as both teams tired. There was no way Uni were making up the difference in the score, and the final result ended as 44-69. Uni’s impressive display against a team in a higher league will give the side confidence going into the new season.
Leeds Beckett will be thankful they were able to fight off any chance of an upset that Leeds Uni might have caused. After the game the Beckett coach spoke highly of his team’s defensive display and said that he enjoyed the occasion as a whole.
Daniel Nixon