The Aspire 2 Achieve Basketball League starts with a bang!

Posted by Alan Hoyle on Nov 29, 11 09:39 AM in Clubs/Societies

The Aspire 2 Achieve Basketball League tipped off on Sunday 27th November at Blyth Sportscentre. The first game of the new league featured the Blyth Renegades and the Northumberland Knightflyers with cheer leader support from the HTA Cheerleading group.

With over one hundred spectators at the game, the sports hall was buzzing with excitement for the start of the game, the Blyth Renegades won the tip but neither team seemed to be able to score as the game went scoreless for the first 2 minutes.

The Renegades scored the first basket of the game and lead by as many as 12 points in the first quarter, with Adam Coxon leading the way for the Renegades with 8 straight points, including back to back three pointers.

Finally after 14 straight misses the Northumberland Knightflyers finally put some points on the board and turned up the defensive pressure, however the Renegades kept on playing their game and maintained the lead behind a complete team effort on offence.

The 3rd quarter saw the Knightflyers start to take control of the game, behind a fantastic defensive effort, including 9 steals from the 2010/11 Most Valuable Player, Callum Wingfield.

The 4th quarter was the reverse of the 1st, as the Knightflyers took an commanding lead, the Renegades fought back, but the Knightflyers took control of the tempo of the game, with Glenn Armstrong scoring 8 of his 12 points in the 4th quarter alone.

'It was an amazing start to our new League' said Aspire 2 Achieve Co-Founder Alan Hoyle 'The turn out was fantastic, it was the biggest crowd I've seen for a local league Basketball game in a long time, I think we put on a good show for everybody. Both teams were a little nervous at the start, but after the first couple of possessions the game moved up to another level, the players on both teams played fantastic, the cheerleaders did a great job, the referee and official were great, we couldnt have asked for a better start to our league.'

One spectator, Mr Gill, agrees 'The set up of the whole event was something you would expect State side, I have never witnessed such an entertaining Basketball game in England, I cannot wait till the next game!'

Another spectator added 'This is exactly what Basketball needs! I came to the game with my son with little interest in the sport, I have left a fan.'

'It is great to get such positive feedback, we wanted to show people how fun the game of Basketball can be, it is a sport which anybody can play or just come along to watch and enjoy, it was a fantastic experience to see the people of my home town come out and thoroughly enjoy the game. Said Alan '...But just wait till the All Star game!'

The Blyth Renegades train each Sunday, 4pm at Blyth Sportscentre, the Northumberland Knightflyers train each Friday, 7pm at Coquet High in Amble. Players of any ages and abilities are welcome to either session.

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