U18 Men at Haris Memorial Tournament, Manchester

Amechi Centre, Manchester

27^th – 29^th Dec 2011

As part of the U18 men’s ongoing preparation for next summer’s FIBA Europe Division B Championship, a contingent of the current 18 man squad (see below), travelled to Manchester between Christmas & New Year to play in the Haris Memorial Tournament run by Manchester Magic at the Amechi Centre.

This was the 2nd preparation tournament for the squad, having taken an initial team of twelve to the U17 Regional tournament in September and presented the management team with an opportunity to include some players that were selected into the Squad as part of the two trial sessions held in October and November.

Objectives

The principle objective was to expose the players to a higher level of competition, particularly quicker more physical styles of play, against bigger, stronger players, to challenge them both as a team and as individuals.

It was also an opportunity to identify key areas that need to be developed during the next 8 months of preparation.

Summary

The tournament enabled the coaching team to achieve the above particularly against very strong German and Manchester Magic U18 teams.

Collectively, the team learned a number of valuable lessons, whilst identifying key areas on both offence and defence that will need to be addressed over the next 8 months.

Individually, a number of players put in excellent performances whilst others were able to see what they need to do if they are to ultimately make the final 12 players that will travel to Sarajevo in August.

The following is a very brief summary of the 5 games with links to the Box Score on the tournament web site, where it is available.

Game 1 – 8pm Tuesday 27^th Dec

England U16 47 – 63 Scotland U18

One of our key areas of focus for the tournament was defensive style and intensity. As a consequence, the players started off this game strongly getting a number of stops, scoring at the other end in transition, racing out to an early lead, taking the 1^st quarter 23 -10 and finishing the half with a 40 – 19 lead.

However, the Euro A bound England U16 men, a taller more physically developed group were determined not to give up the game without a fight and rallied strongly in the 3^rd quarter, edging back in to the game cutting the lead at the end of the 3^rd quarter to14 (52-38), The English team continued to battle back in the 4^th but we continued to play strong defence and closed the game out 63 -47.

This was a fine initial strong performance with 4 players in double figures and whilst a good defensive performance in parts, giving up 21 offensive rebounds highlighted something that clearly needs to be worked on.

http://www.amaechibasketball.com/Events/HarisTournament/England%20-%20Scotland%20Box%20Score.pdf

Game 2 – 1pm Wednesday 28^th Dec

Breitengüßbach 66 – 30 Scotland U18

First game of Day 2, against the eventual tournament winners Breitengüßbach, a very good, very big German club team.

This was a very tough game as the German front line dominated both ends of the floor. As a team we battled hard but with shots not dropping and Breitengüßbach scoring easily off turnovers as they applies some pressure mid way through the 2^nd Quarter, taking a lead of 17 into the 2^nd half.

The 2^nd half continued with the same pattern and the team had to deal with the additional challenge of losing Joshua McGilvray to an accidental head knock which would also keep out of game 3 and the German team ran out 66 – 30 winners.

Game 3 – 4pm Wednesday 28^th Dec

Manchester Magic U18 93 – 57 Scotland U18

This game would determine who would make the semi finals and who would drop into the playoffs for 5^th to 8^th Place. A task made tougher as we were without Joshua McGilvary.

However, again the players took on the challenge and started the game strongly trading baskets and playing tough defence in the 1^st quarter, keeping it close at 20 – 16 to Magic. During the 2^nd Quarter the bigger and more athletic Manchester team began to assert itself extending their lead at halftime to 42 – 29.

They stepped up their pressure in the 2^nd half, causing too many turnovers and therefore easy baskets.

The story of this game is best summed up as Magic getting too many points off turnovers, second chance points and 70 of their 93 points being scored in the paint.

http://www.amaechibasketball.com/Events/HarisTournament/Magic%201%20-%20Scotland%20Box%20Score.pdf

END OF DAY 2

Game 4 – 10 am Thursday 29^th Dec

Manchester Magic U16 36 – 63 Scotland U18

This was an excellent game with both teams looking to win a pace in the 5^th / 6^th play off-game. The Scottish team took a while to get going but with strong performances across the board, particularly in the 2^nd half restricting Manchester to 10 points. The only, disappointment was an injury to Nicky Sim early in the game which also caused him to sit out game 5.

http://www.amaechibasketball.com/Events/HarisTournament/Scotland%20-%20Magic%202%20Box%20Score.pdf

Game 5 – 2pm Thursday 28^th Dec

Solent Kestrels 46 – 72 Scotland U18

This game provided the opportunity to finish the tournament on a relative high. It was also an opportunity to put in a defensive performance bringing together all the lessons we had learned over the previous four games. This is exactly what the team did racing out to 18 point lead at the half.

However, Solent came out at the start of the 3^rd Quarter with full court pressure, forcing several turnovers and getting the score to within 9, before we managed to get the game back under control and in the end extend our lead out and winning the game 72 – 46.

SCOTLAND U18 SQUAD at Haris Tournament

*Number*	*Player*	*Position*	*Height*
4	Steven Docherty	Guard	5′ 10″
5	Tom Company	Guard	6′ 0″
6	Craig Malcolm	Forward	6′ 0″
7	Nicky Sim	Guard	6′ 1″
8	Jack Nicholson	Forward	6′ 0″
9	Ryan McKay	Forward	6′ 3″
10	Matthew Wilcox	Forward	6′ 4″
11	Neil Rowan	Guard	5′ 10″
12	Scott Thomas	Forward	6′ 1″
13	Ben Chok	Forward	6′ 4″
14	Gregor Gray	Forward	6′ 3″
15	Joshua McGilvray	Forward	6′ 8″