Leeds Carnegie Basketball Blog

Carnegie Make it Four in a Row

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 18:51:27 +0000

Carnegie Men improved to an 8-10 record after another two wins this weekend. Both games were close right down to the wire, with Carnegie pulling ahead just at the right time. Josh Houghton was again on form with 17 points against London Capitals, following it up with 18 points against Medway Park.

Carnegie Men 65 – 59 PAWS London Capitals (Win)

Carnegie were slow to start against London Capitals, with their offence not flowing and them struggling to stop Gariba, who scored 8 of their 20 points. Carnegie trailed 20-13 at the end of the first quarter.
In the second, Leeds managed to get their offence going, with Sean Clifford leading the way with 9 points in the second quarter and Gyorgy Polya adding 7 as Carnegie took a two point lead in to the half. 35-33.
The game would continue to be close throughout the third quarter, with neither team being able to shake the other. With balanced scoring from the whole Carnegie team, the lead would stretch to 51-48 going into the final quarter.
In the final quarter, it would be Josh Houghton’s time to shine. In a quarter dominated by defence, Josh Houghton would find keep his cool at the free throw line and score 11 of his 17 points. The final score would be 65-59.

Top Scorers

Leeds Carnegie

Josh Houghton – 17 Points
Sean Clifford – 11 Points
Armand Anebo – 8 Points

PAWS London Capitals

Gariba – 17 Points
Wood – 15 Points
Henry – 13 Points

Carnegie Men 66 – 61 Medway Park Crusaders (Win)

After the close encounter on the previous day, Leeds knew they had a tough task to also defeat Medway to continue climbing the table. After Baker gave Medway a 6-0 lead with back to back threes to start the game. Josh Houghton would start where he left off the previous day. Scoring 9 of Carnegie’s first 11 points, however it would not be enough to take the lead and the first quarter ended with a Jack Stannard three pointer to make it 14-14.
Stannard would then open up the quarter with another jump shot to give Leeds a 16-14 lead. Neither team could find their rhythm and the half would finish 27-26 in favour of Carnegie, with Josh Houghton being responsible for 16 of those points.
After restricting former Leeds player Fenyn to just two points in the first half, he would finally find his rhythm and open up the half with a three pointer. But Carnegie would again have they answer, after an emphatic Anebo dunk, he would go on to score 6 points in the quarter and the quarter would end as it started, with one point in it. Carnegie led 44-43.
The final quarter was again too close to call, with both teams just trading baskets. With Carnegie leading the game 62-59 with less than a minute to play, they would force a turnover from Medway giving them the ball. After the Crusaders stifled Leeds’ offence, the ball would find its way into the hands of Sean Clifford, he would give a shot fake and go up and under to bank it in. They Irving would score a tough lay-up to bring Medway back within two with 8 seconds remaining. After being forced to foul Jack Stannard to stop the clock, he would go on to make both and Carnegie would again come away with a close victory 66-61.

Top Scorers

Leeds Carnegie

Josh Houghton – 18 Points (6-10 FGs)
Jack Stannard – 15 Points, 3 Steals, 2 Assists
Sean Clifford – 13 Points, 4 Assists

Medway Park Crusaders

Adrian Fenyn – 17 Points, 13 Rebounds
Luke Baker – 13 Points, 3 Rebounds
Kalil Irving – 10 Points, 7 Rebounds

Leeds Carnegie vs Durham University – 15th February 2012

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 15:07:21 +0000

After such a close game between the two sides in November, the game was set to be an exciting encounter. The game did not disappoint, with a standout performance from Armand Anebo (13 Points, 19 Rebounds, 5 Steals, 4 Blocks), Carnegie pulled off an impressive 77-73 victory.
You can view the game below:

Top Scorers

Henry Wilkins – 21 Points (5-11 3pt)

Armand Anebo – 13 Points, 19 Rebounds, 5 Steals, 4 Blocks

Oliver Hylands – 13 Points, 11 Rebounds, 2 Assists

BUCS Review - 29th February 2012

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 14:43:05 +0000

Wednesday would see five of the seven BUCS team’s in action, with four of them playing at home. Carnegie III kicked off the day with a strong victory over Sheffield Hallam, with Carnegie II following that up with a 76 point victory. However Carnegie Women II and Carnegie were unable to continue the string of results both recording losses. Carnegie Women were the only team away and would scrape through with a one point victory over Team Northumbria.

Carnegie 71 – 81 Worcester (Loss)

Carnegie would come away eventual losers against a very tough Worcester side. After an incredibly slow start with the Leeds team struggling to find their range, Worcester had no such problems, hitting 6 three pointers in the opening quarter. With Leeds trailing 30-6 with eight minutes gone in the first quarter, Coach Newby was forced to call his second time-out in the first quarter. A put-back from Anebo and a three point play from Henry Wilkins would reduce the deficit slightly and the quarter ended 32-11.

After Worcester’s lead was stretched back out to 23 behind a Kazlauskas three pointer, Carnegie would make a run of their own. Hungarian guard György Pólya sparked the team with a tough lay-up and three pointer in back to back plays, which started an 11-0 run to bring the team back into the game. The half would end 46-34.

Carnegie’s captain Sean Clifford would start the quarter with a three pointer to make the deficit single digits. However Worcester would again rely on their three point shooting, hitting another five in the quarter. Clifford would have ten of his fifteen in the quarter but was unable to prevent the lead extending to 14. Leeds trailed 56-70.

Some strong play from Armand Anebo to start the final ten minutes of the game would see the lead back to just eight points. Only a ridiculous fluked bank shot from Benjamin would stop the run. Wilkins would however answer it with a three pointer to bring the game to within seven. BBL guard Prezzie Blue hit a three of his own to calm Worcester’s nerves, then after an incredible defensive effort from Carnegie, Benjamin’s luck was in again, throwing a shot up from beyond the arc that also banked in. Wilkins replied hitting all three of his free throws after being fouled on a three point jump shot, bringing it back to a ten point game. Worcester’s Freeman again hit a shot to take the lead back to twelve, before György Pólya hit a three to make the deficit nine. That was as close as Leeds got as they struggled to hit their long range efforts. The game ended 81-71.

Top Scorers

Leeds Carnegie

Henry Wilkins – 18 Points
Sean Clifford – 15 Points
György Pólya – 12 Points

Worcester Wolves

Freeman – 17 Points
Prezzie Blue – 17 Points
Kazlauskas – 14 Points

Carnegie Women 81 – 80 Northumbria (Win)

Carnegie Women improved to joint third position in BUCS Women’s Premier with a nail biting victory against Northumbria. The game included a 27 point turnaround from Leeds, after a slow start.

The first quarter was a closely fought contest with both teams trading baskets, with Davison leading Carnegie with 6 points. Northumbria would close out the quarter with a 4-0 run to stretch the lead out to five points, 19-14.

The second was where Northumbria really came into their own, five unanswered points from their captain Shaikh would cap off an 11-0 run. It was then Carnegie’s American forward that would answer with five straight points of her own, but they still trailed 26-19. Leeds would get as close as four points, before Northumbria made their run. A 14-0 in three minutes saw them lead 41-23. It was then that former Northumbria player Ruth Davison would find an answer, scoring eight straight points for Leeds running the break. By the end of the quarter Carnegie narrowed the deficit to 45-35.

The third quarter would see LaKeisha Wright take over the scoring load, scoring 12 of her team high 21. With Northumbria struggling to find their form offensively, Carnegie erased the ten point deficit and would go into the final quarter leading by one point (64-63).

Leeds would open up with Kendal James, Steph Jones and Rachael Bland all getting their name on the score sheet and opening up their biggest lead of the game. The team ‘s biggest lead of the quarter would be ten points, before Northumbria’s leading scorer Clark scored five straight points, but again Carnegie resisted the charge and would hold an 81-72 lead with two minutes remaining in the game. Carnegie were so close to throwing the game away, with turnover after turnover in the closing moments. Northumbria score 8 unanswered points capped off by a Clark putback to bring the game within one point with just 4.5 seconds remaining in the game. Another steal from Northumbria gave their guard Carr an opportunity to win the game, her mid-range jump shot would spin around the rim before just dropping out as the buzzer sounded and Leeds would just hold on to win it. The game ended 81-80.

Coach Nick Dawson said ‘An inconsistent performance by us led to the game being close at the end, but after being down by 18 points in the first half, we showed real character to put ourselves in a position to win. We made it difficult for ourselves, but we got the win and that was the priority. It should give us a good platform for next weekend’s game against Durham, where we will attempt to avenge our BUCS Championship loss.’

Top Scorers

Leeds Carnegie

Wright – 21 Points
Davison – 19 Points
Luksyte – 19 Points

Northumbria

Clark – 27 Points
Carr – 17 Points
Lonsdale – 12 Points

Carnegie II 122 – 46 Sunderland (Win)

Carnegie II moved one step closer to clinching the BUCS 2B title with a resounding win over Sunderland. The team are still unbeaten in BUCS this year, with an 8-0 record in the league, they need just one win from the last two games to secure the title. The team are also in the BUCS Cup semi-final against league rivals Northumbria II. Carnegie II are the current champions after winning the BUCS Cup in 2011.

Top Scorers

Leeds Carnegie

Hodson – 32 Points
Hinds – 29 Points
Metcalf – 19 Points

University of Sunderland

Kouacs – 15 Points
Popoola – 10 Points
Orgean – 8 Points

Carnegie Women II 32 – 50 University of Leeds (Loss)

Carnegie III 73 – 42 Sheffield Hallam II (Win)

Carnegie Come up Short against National Champions

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:26:28 +0000

Carnegie have most certainly been putting in some solid performances the past few weeks, the result just hasn’t been in their favour at the end of the game. Carnegie’s last four losses have been just one possession games within the last 30 seconds of each game, playing against arguably two of the best teams in the country, Bristol and London Leopards. Are they just unlucky? One thing is for sure, the results will start to fall in their favour in the final ten games of the season.

Sunday’s game against London Leopards was a close encounter throughout, with neither team taking a commanding lead. Leeds were forced to play without starting shooting guard Henry Wilkins through illness. After Carnegie took a 9-6 lead behind a Jack Stannard three pointer, Leopards would start to get into rhythm offensively taking a 22-13 lead. Dave Ajumobi would however drag it back to 22-15 with a tough lay-up through contact just before the buzzer.

After London’s Teel opened up with two free throws, on his way to 36 points in the game, Leeds would make their run behind some strong play from Josh Houghton. After hitting a three pointer, he would follow it up by getting fouled on his way to the basket, making two from two free throws to bring Leeds back to within one point. By the end of the half Carnegie would trail 43-39.

The second half would open up with Teel scoring 5 points straight to increase the deficit. But as within recent weeks, Carnegie would make a run of their own. Armand Anebo scored five of his fourteen points to complete yet another double double (14 points, 11 rebounds). Carnegie would take a 60-59 lead into the fourth quarter.

In the first five minutes of the final quarter no team could break free from the other, with the biggest lead being only 2 points. It was then Leeds that would make a small breakthrough, Anebo grabbed a huge offensive rebound and put it back in to stretch Carnegie’s lead to 5 points with three minutes remaining. However, back-to-back turnovers saw London capitalise and pull themselves right back into the game. After London had a 4 point lead with less than a minute to play, Ajumobi drove to the hoop and got fouled. He would make both free-throws to make it a one possession game with 38 seconds left to play. Out of the time-out, Ajumobi would take it upon himself to guard the game’s top scorer Vernon Teel. He succeeded in forcing a bad shot and grabbed the rebound to give Carnegie a chance to tie, however as Leeds pushed the ball up the court, they would turn the ball over and would never get that chance. Leopards scored on the buzzer and the game ended 76-72.

Top Scorers

Leeds Carnegie

Armand Anebo – 14 Points, 11 Rebounds

Dave Ajumobi – 12 Points, 6 Rebounds

Sean Clifford – 12 Points, 5 Rebounds, 5 Assists

London Leopards

Vernon Teel – 36 Points, 8 Steals, 7 Rebounds

Ousman Krubally – 20 Points, 15 Rebounds

Zak Wells – 6 Points, 10 Rebounds

Two Carnegie Junior Prospects Go Head-to-Head

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 00:17:39 +0000

On Friday night, two of Carnegie’s leading young prospects, Daniel (Danny) Evans and Trey Bitton-Price, had just finished up a skills session with the Men’s Division One team. The two Carnegie U16’s players decided to go one-on-one, after Daniel Evans hit six deep threes in a row, realising that this might be something special, the camera started rolling. See for yourself what happened:

Both players would just go crazy, after Trey hits six three’s in a row, England U16’s player Danny Evans would respond, hitting two ridiculous jumpers with the defence all over him.

Who wins? You decide

It was too tough for everyone watching to decide who should be victorious in this head-to-head, so we thought we’d let you decide. Log onto the Carnegie Basketball Facebook page to vote.

Daniel (Danny) Evans

Age – 15 (1996)

Height – 6ft 1

Position – PG

Career High: 38 Points

Danny was born and bred in Leeds, attending schools in Alwoodly. At only 15 he has already won the Jason Shakespeare Young Player award for the Yorkshire region and was the first Carnegie Junior player to represent England. Danny has a lot of support from his family, particularly his Granddad who takes him to nearly every practice he attends. Danny has started to attend senior practices in order to accelerate his progression in becoming one of the top young players in the country.

Trey Bitton-Price

Age – 16 (1995)

Height – 5ft 6

Position – PG

Career High: 48 Points

Trey was also born and bred in Leeds, however most of his family are based in America. Trey has represented Yorkshire at both U15 and U17. He is known for his incredible athletic ability, as well as basketball he has also competed in athletics, coming second in a national final for the 100m. He can also jump 1m 90cm in high jump. Despite not representing England or GB yet, he has high hopes for the future.

Carnegie's Buzzer Nightmare

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 02:01:27 +0000

Carnegie were dealt a huge blow after playing arguably the best half of basketball of the season. A controversial buzzer beater, which was awarded to Bristol, saw Leeds lose 80-78 after leading for nearly the entire game. See the video below and hoopsfix.com’s article about the shot.

The first quarter started in fairy tale fashion. Carnegie, who have a disappointing 4-8 record, should have been odds on favourite to lose against league leaders Bristol. However the team have been making huge strides in the past few weeks and after a huge win over local rivals Bradford, the team knew they could surprise the Flyers. They certainly succeeded, after back to back threes from guard Henry Wilkins in the first two possessions of the game, the team didn’t look back in the first quarter. The team was firing on all cylinders, Dave Ajumobi had racked up 7 points and 7 rebounds, capped off by Wilkins hitting another three consecutive threes to end the quarter. The quarter would end with Carnegie firmly in control, leading 34-18.

The second quarter would see Leeds briefly stretch the lead out to 19 points off of a fast break lay up from Gyorgy Polya. Bristol would then start to make their run, they would reduce the deficit to 12 points after a McLaughlin-Williams three point play mid way through the quarter. However Carnegie would withstand the push and behind Armand Anebo’s first three pointer of the season on his way to a double double (18 points, 11 rebounds), would push the lead back out to 15 points. A Greg Streete three pointer would bring Bristol back at Carnegie and the quarter would end 49-37. As described by commentator Mike Shaft ‘Probably the best half of basketball in EBL Division One this season.’

After the break the Flyers were clearly determined to get back into the game and opened up with a McLaughlin-Williams three pointer. It was however Carnegie’s captain Sean Clifford’s turn to step up, He would make three drives to the basket on back to back possessions, to maintain Carnegie’s buffer. Bristol’s Bowne would close out the quarter with back to back put backs, making the difference just five points heading into the final period. The score 63-58.

The final quarter would start exactly how the Leeds crowd were hoping for, a 5-0 run to start the quarter saw them stretch it out to a ten point lead again. An Ajumobi and one put back would see him complete his double double. (14 points, 11 rebounds) Bristol would again continue to fight back and after two made Treasure freethrows, Bristol would get their first lead of the game with just under two minutes to play. Carnegie however were far from done, they came right back to tie the game and Anebo would grab a long rebound and go coast-to-coast to stretch it to a 5 point lead with 45 seconds left to play in the game. With Leeds looking in control of the game, Greg Streete for Bristol had other ideas, he hit a huge three pointer and then got a steal at the half and would finish at the basket to tie the game up with under 15 seconds left to play. After a quick push, the ball would land in the hands of Carnegie’s new recruit Babs Somoye who would get fouled at the hoop. With two free throws with exactly nine seconds to play and the game tied. He had a chance to put Leeds back in front. He would hit the first, after he missed the second there would be a scramble for the ball that saw it land out of bounds. The referees would award the ball to Bristol. With 6.8 seconds to play they pushed the ball up the court and it would land in the hands of Alfaki, he would heave it from the wing to see it drop in the hoop. After a few seconds deliberating, the referees awarded the points. Should it have counted? See for yourself on the video below:

Top Scorers

Leeds Carnegie

Henry Wilkins – 20 Points, 3 Rebounds, 2 Assists

Armand Anebo – 18 Points, 11 Rebounds

Sean Clifford – 16 Points, 6 Rebounds, 5 Assists

Bristol Academy Flyers

Doug McLaughlin-Williams – 22 Points, 4 Rebounds

Davis Bowne – 13 Points, 11 Rebounds

Tyrone Treasure – 12 Points, 5 Rebounds

Henry Wilkins – Five 3 Pointers in the First Quarter

Sean Clifford – Three in a Row

Carnegie II can't extinguish Huddersfield Heat

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 14:50:47 +0000

After Carnegie II’s massive victory over Durham this Wednesday in BUCS, they looked to follow up that victory against a much tougher Huddersfield Heat in National League Division Three. With the league’s leading points scorer Jason Swaine scoring a massive 34 points, the team could not defeat Huddersfield despite their 8-0 run in the final minute of the game. They eventually lost 98-93.

The first quarter was a very balanced offensive performance by Carnegie II, with 7 of their players getting onto the scoresheet. However Heat’s Irving and Swaine would score 9 points each to give them a 24-21 lead at the end of the quarter. In the second, Useckas would score 9 of his 25 points to as the team would keep up with Huddersfield, however Swaine would hit yet another three pointer to stretch the lead out to 10 points. 51-41 at the half.

Things would get worse in the third quarter as Carnegie would go down by 14 and their starting point guard Josh Scanlon would get fouled out. This however seemed to spark Leeds and more specifically Ben Cepulis into action. He would score 10 of Carnegie’s last 16 points of the quarter as Carnegie brought it back to 7 points heading into the final quarter.

As Huddersfield stretched the lead out to 11 within the first three minutes, Useckas would add another 2 to his points total, then it was Metcalf’s time to shine again, hitting back-to-back threes to pull Carnegie within 3 points. Huddersfield would then stretch out the lead to 13 points with some inside scoring from Huddersfield’s Gray. After Carnegie II last home game against Sheffield Saints coming right down to the wire, the team again didn’t disappoint the crowd. Going on an 11-2 run in just a minute and a half the game was again a three point game. With only 10 seconds left on the clock Chris McCann was forced to foul to send the opposition to the line. Heat’s captain and coach Perez would coolly knock down both. Carnegie would then fail to score and the game ended 98-93.

Top Scorers

Leeds Carnegie

Cepulis – 26 Points

Useckas – 25 Points

McCann – 13 Points

Huddersfield Heat

Swaine – 34 Points

Gray – 19 Points

Irving – 15 Points