Westminster Warriors Basketball Club

WARRIORS 99 - HACKNEY WHITE HEAT 75

Warriors U18's travelled across town to face their East London counterparts, Hackney White Heat, in this highly anticipated London 'derby'.
 
The 2 clubs have had a long and rich history of competition, stretching back to the days of when legendary coach Joe White (RIP) used to patrol the sidelines leading his team into battle against hungry young Warrior teams led by Warriors own iconic coach Steve Alexander. The games were always full of passion, with both teams playing with pride and intensity - led by 2 great coaches who drilled their teams to play hard, but always fair. A long and healthy respect for each other has been nurtured as an offspring to those classic match ups, which has lead to any Warriors/White Heat games always being eagerly anticipated dates on the London basketball calendar for players and spectators alike.

Going into this game, Warriors were without leading scorer Leon Bennett-Harris (26ppg) who sustained a minor injury in practise the day before, however the inside duo of Ryan Martin and Eliandro Inacio were quick to squash any doubts that this would be anything but another Warrior victory. ‘Double Trouble’ went for 56 points between them, also snagging an impressive 29 boards to boot.

Warriors went inside to Inacio early and often in the first quarter and, as usual, he didn’t disappoint – scoring on a variety of unstoppable post moves around the basket. Early foul trouble sent both Inacio and starting point guard Teddy Okereafor to the bench, but Martin and hot shooting Mostapha Alfaki made sure the Warriors attack didn’t miss a beat. Alfaki shot well in the first half, making three 3-pointers while missing just 1. Warriors went in at the half, up by 23.

The second half belonged to Martin, who dominated the play from all angles on the offensive and defensive end. Displaying a much improved outside shot, Martin made two 3-pointers and a number of 'long' 2's on his way to a game-high 38 points. Each time Hackney looked like they may make a run, Martin immediately answered with a jump shot or slashing drive to the basket. On this day, he showed why he is regarded as one of the top U18's in the country hauling in 15 rebounds and dishing out 4 assists to boot.

Warriors ran the game out with a comfortable 25 point win. Coach Nhamo Shire summed up the play "We were far from our best today, but I knew this would be a tough one for us because of the emotional ties between our clubs. We have a tremendous amount of respect for White Heat, Richard (Hackney's head coach, Richard Fergus) and of course the Joe (White) who was a mentor to both me and coach Jackson so it was hard to prepare for. Add to that the ties players on both teams have, with their top player Andre Taylor playing for us last year and Ryan and Eliandro playing for them last season - it was always going to be emotional. For us, Eliandro set the tone early and Ryan shut it down later on with one of his better games this season - and I thought those two in particular were the difference out there today".

With the win, Warriors remain the only unbeaten team in league play in the Premier Southern conference. A record that is sure to be put to the test over the next 2 games with current league leaders Solent up next, followed by Reading Rockets - the only team to have beaten the Warriors this year (by1 point in the Sureshot Cup).
 
Key Statistics:

Scoring: Martin 38, Inacio 18, Alfaki 16

Rebounding: Martin 15, Inacio 14, Okereafor 5

Assists: Martin 4, Okereafor 3, Abifade 3