Abingdon Eagles 55 Solent Kestrels 70

South West Champions Abingdon Eagles U16s matched up to a well organised Premier South club in Solent Kestrels at Oxford Brookes Sports Centre for their first round playoff match.
Solent were recent runners up in the National Cup and they consistently field teams at a very high level.
Eagles scored first through Jake Caudle as the Eagles kept a tight defence limiting Solent’s scoring chances and by mid point in the first quarter held an 8 – 4 lead. Solent’s influential Spencer Wells pulled back 10 points for the visitors to finish the first quarter 20 – 13 ahead.

In the second quarter the Eagles pushed hard keeping the margin close all the time with David Hyde and Connor Sugden cashing in on the rebounds and making 15 points between them and winning the second period 20 – 16 but Eagles still trailed 33 – 36.

In the 3rd quarter the Eagles matched Solent point for point but the next 5 minutes saw the game open up as the visitors added a 10 point unanswered run to take a commanding lead
57 – 44.

Jordan Anderson and Pete Hemsley delighted the crowd with superb long-range 3 pointers to keep the scores level in the final period but at the final buzzer Eagles bowed out of the contest 55 – 70. They ended the game with their pride intact and are looking forward to next season as the whole squad will move up a level to become the new U18’s.

Scorers : Connor Sugden 12, Mike Bird 10, David Hyde 10, Pete Hemsley 10,
Jacob Caudle 6, Jordan Anderson 10, James Spence 1.