Lions tamed as Myerscough advance in Men’s National Cup 

Teeside, England – Myerscough punched its ticket to the next round of the NBL Men’s National Cup after beating last season’s NBL Division 3 playoff champions and current NBL Division 3 favourites Teesside Lions, 85-77 on Sunday

Euan Birch would open the account for Myerscough before Teesside had the better of the opening exchanges and built an early 12-8 lead. Dayvantia Campbell-Deeble converted a pair of free throws and sharpshooter Denilson Caschili added another three-pointer to put Myerscough back in front. Teesside would respond with a three-pointer of their own before back-to-back scores from Campbell-Deeble would put Myerscough back in front heading in to the first break, 23-17.  

Myerscough College continued to build on what was turning into a very mature performance and found themselves repeating the first quarter score line and leading, 46-34 at halftime.  

The lead would be halved as Theo Turner started to assert his presence inside for three straight scores, but this seemed to fuel the academy-based side as they exploded for 11-points without reply and built their biggest lead of the game, 57-40 with just over 4-minutes remaining in the third quarter. 

Teesside would then showcase the depth and experience of their roster as they would hold Myerscough to just 5 points across the remainder of the quarter and scoreless to start the fourth as they came roaring back to take a 64-62 lead of their own.  

Myerscough would regroup after a timeout and from here on out found themselves in a back-and-forth contest with the Lions before Euan Birch hit a corner three and Peter Asante scored twice at the basket to open a 9-point lead effectively sealing the result.  

Captain Euan Birch would lead the way for Myerscough with 15 points. Peter Asante would support with 14 points whilst familiar faces Stephen Asante and Denilson Caschili contributed 13 points each.  

“This was an important win for us, obviously it is great to progress in the cup but the team took a huge step forward in terms of how we closed the game out” Said Myerscough Head Coach Neal Hopkins after the game. “Teesside threw everything at us in the second half, and despite letting a healthy lead slip we had the character to recover and get the job done, I am really proud of the guys efforts” Hopkins continued.
 
Teesside were led by Theo Turner’s 19 points with Luke Mitchell and Eddie Matthew adding 15 and 14 points each.   

Myerscough advance to the next round where they will host NBL Division 1 side Manchester Magic, who comfortably dispatched of NBL Division 3 side Preston BC, 92-61.  

Preston, England – Myerscough II made it four wins in a row following a 66-51 win over Cheshire Wire. Unlike previous games, Myerscough were slow out of the blocks and after a frustrating first half, held a slight 34-30 lead, after two Andre Ryan 3-pointers.  

Myerscough came out with more energy and focus in the 3rd quarter and were able to open a double-digit lead behind 11 points from Calum Johnstone. The lead was pushed out to 20 points in the 4th quarter behind steady scoring from Ben Prince and with Jayden Baldie leading the way defensively.  

Calum Johnstone

Johnstone led the way for Myerscough with 20 points (including 6 3-pointers) and was supported by Prince with 18 and Chanthapadith Dennis with 11. 

Cheshire were led by Elliot Booth with 17 points, with J. Massey (12) and Joe Ralph (11) also registering double figures.  

Calum Johnstone commented on the win: 

 “I think we weren’t very switched on in the first half of the game. Once we focused in the 2nd half we were able to exploit their zone and play to our strengths which got us the win”. 

Coach James Jones came away from the game wanting more from his team; 

 “It is always good to get the win, but I believe that we can play much better as a group. We ended up making 12 3-pointers against their zone, which is a positive, but we had far too many turnovers and I felt we weren’t as engaged defensively as we need to be. We will look to put some of those things right in practice and hopefully be better for Tameside next week.” 

Other weekend results:  

Saturday 12th November 2022 

U18 Premier v Charnwood College Riders – 81-40 W   

Top Scorers 

Kamarni Steadman 14 points 

Dayvantia Campbell-Deeble 14 points 

Reuben McNeil 13 points 

Chanthapadith Dennis 11 points 

Sunday 13th November 2022 

U16 Conference v Cheshire Phoenix II – 45-78 L 

Top Scorers 

Thomas Windle 19 points 

Cameron Sales 17 points  

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