Myerscough College Basketball Academy returns to the EYBL SuperFinal which will take place in Bratislava, Slovakia, and is hoping it is third time lucky for the Preston-based outfit. The programme came agonisingly close at the end of the 2018-19 season when it lost out by the finest of margins and were even more unlucky the year after when the pandemic halted all sporting activities.
At that point, Myerscough had amassed an incredible 26-5 regular season record and a 27-7 mark overall across their first two years in the league, which included booking back-to-back trips to the SuperFinal. The Academy finished fourth at their first-ever appearance at the year-end showpiece event, and never got a chance to play in the 2020 SuperFinal that was cancelled.
By virtue of its 14-1 record during the 2019-20 season, Myerscough made history by becoming the first British basketball team at any level to win a season-long European competition. Sco swept Stages II and III and strung together a 12-game winning streak in the process.
Now two years removed from that championship winning season and heading into the SuperFinal with collection of fresh faces, Myerscough looks to go one step further and claim the championship title.
The programme had to overcome a slow start to the 2022-23 season as they dropped two games in the opening round to familiar opponents RIG Lulea (Sweden) and new faces JBA Gradia (Finland) but wins over Haga BG Dolphins (Sweden), KFUM CB (Sweden) and Bracknell Cobras (United Kingdom) ensured that Myerscough ended the stage on a high.
Stage 2 saw the team travel to Riga over the Christmas break and come up heartbreakingly close to winning the stage had they have not have come undone down the stretch and lose to hometown, BS Riga by 1 point. However, strong wins over NABA (Ireland), BS Ridzene (Latvia), Reinar Halliku (Estonia) and BVBS (Latvia) pushed the record to 7-3 heading into the final stage.
Myerscough dispatched London United (United Kingdom) and TalTech (Estonia) early in Stage 3 before taking down reigning U19 Finnish Champions Omnia BA in an overtime classic to direct all momentum in securing a SuperFinal place. Unfortunately, the team hit a hurdle in Audentes (Estonia) which saw them drop to their 4th loss of the year but an offensive explosion against Keila KK (Estonia) combined with other results in the competition saw Myerscough claim its third SuperFinal appearance in as many entries.
Myerscough Captain Euan Birch “We are coming in with a lot of confidence after another strong regular season in the EYBL North and believe we have what it takes to compete with anyone in this. Personally, I feel it means a lot to me and my teammates that we have made it to this point as it’s a reflection of the hard work that we have poured in each day. It’s a privilege to be able to continue to compete against top European teams and we are ready to embrace the challenge”.
Head Coach Troy Culley “I am excited about the opportunity to be here in Levice for the SuperFinal as it again gives our players an opportunity to test themselves against some of the best junior teams in Europe. We pride ourselves as a programme on exposing the players to new experiences and the exciting thing this year is that the SuperFinal has combined both EYBL North and South together which gives us a chance to test ourselves against new opposition. I believe the group that has travelled to Slovakia is ready to showcase that they are ready to compete and are in a good position to steer us as we aim to go one step further than previous years”.
Myerscough starts this years SuperFinal with group games against SVK Selection (Slovakia) at 8pm (7pm GMT) on May 18th followed by USK Prague (Czech Republic) at 7.20pm (6.20pm GMT) on May 19th.
Game Schedule HERE
18th MAY 2023
20:00 (19:00GMT) / SVK SELECTION (SVK) – Myerscough Academy (GBR)
LIVE STREAM: http://www.sbkjunior.sk/live
STATS: https://fibalivestats.dcd.shared.geniussports.com/u/EYBL/2274600/
19th MAY 2023
19:20 (18:20GMT) / Myerscough Academy (GBR) – USK Praha (CZE)
LIVE STREAM: http://www.sbkjunior.sk/live
STATS: (coming soon…)
20th MAY 2023
Classification Games TBC
21st MAY 2023
Classification Games TBC