Intense pressure from Kings gives trouble to Preston

Preston traveled away to Manchester for the penultimate fixture of the league season against the Manchester Kings Black team.

Manchester Kings Black 75 - 28 Preston U16 RL

Q1 MKB 13 - 12 PBC
Q2 MKB 23 - 4 PBC

HT MKB 36 - 16 PBC

Q3 MKB 24 - 2 PBC
Q4 MKB 15 - 10 PBC

FT MKB 75 - 28 PBC

Despite being a bit shorthanded on regular players Preston started the game strong, holding a small lead for the first few minutes with some good inside scoring and transition points. A capable Manchester team rallied to finish the first quarter up by one. In the second quarter Manchester imposed a relentless full-court press, prying many turnovers that they quickly converted into points. Preston did well to break through the press numerous times but struggled to finish these opportunities into made baskets.

Our toughest quarter was the third. Kings relinquished their full-court press for intensive pressure in the half court, pushing the Preston offense further outside the 3 point line. Kings began to force a number of turnovers in the halfcourt and were able to convert them into more points on the fastbreak. This stifled Preston's offense and the few opportunities created refused to fall into the basket for our lowest scoring quarter of the game.
The final quarter was once again more competitive. Changes to Preston offense started to give more opportunities at the basket. On the defensive end Preston players battled brutally close to the basket against bigger opponents for many important rebounds. Fewer turnovers and smart defending limited Manchester's scoring opportunities for a more closely contested quarter to finish the game.

Congratulations to Haris for his Preston Basketball debut. Special Mentions to Will for tireless defensive effort and Tom for his cool composure against pressure from the opposition.

Well done to all players for another stoic performance against a very capable team - the first and last quarter of the game showed we can compete at that level too and give them a hard time to the final buzzer. Notably, this result was an improvement on the previous fixture against Manchester Kings Black. Preston scored more points AND held the opposition to fewer than the last time the two teams played.

Scorers:
Benji 7pts
James 6pts
Tom 4pts
Rian 4pts
Benjamin 4pts
Jayden 2pts
Will 1pts