New City College 92 – 80 Haringey Sixth Form College

The clash of the two undefeated teams in the ABL East Conference, New city college and Haringey, finally matched up and there could only be one winner.

New City college came out the gates with an impressive run with the crowd behind them. Lions quickly lead by 10 points which forced Haringey to call a timeout, which stabilised them and they went on their own run to even the game. It was a battle of two teams not wanting to give the other any advantage as the first quarter ended 22-20 to NCC.

As a prize fight, in the second quarter, Haringey upped their defensive intensity with a full court press, which forced NCC into turnovers that lead to points. This gave Haringey the lead in the quarter. With 23.9 sec remaining in the quarter NCC called a timeout so they would get the last shot, but not managing the game clock they attacked too early and Haringey got another chance with 6 secs left which they capitalised and gave them the 42-43 lead to the guest ending the second quarter.

After half-time talks, both teams intensity never dropped, as neither team got separation. With five minutes remaining in the third Lions started to take it to the away team, forcing numerous turnovers which led to points. M. Gordon was amazing on the defensive end protecting the rim with numerous highlights blocks and chase down blocks which energised the crowd and the home team. The third ended with Lions taking back the lead 63-56.

The fourth was a quarter that NCC started perfectly. Players S.Olanipekun and A. Ayinla made numerous layups in traffic, both hitting timely three point shots. A.Oke after a slow start offensively, was a beast on the boards defensively and offensively in the second half, as he made jumpers from the mid range and grabbed 12 offensively and 10 defensively for the 6″2 guard. Lions pushed the lead to 24 points, as the crowd got more excited because they could see their team close to the finish line. Haringey with the don’t give up attitude, cut the lead back to 14 which forced NCC coach to call a timeout to settle his troops to close the game out. The final score was 92-80, which is a great win for NCC and leaves them as the only unbeaten team in the conference.

Highlight performances

A.Oke 22 points, 22 rebounds and 4 steals.

S.Olanipekun 26 points, 4 rebounds and 2 steals.

M.Gordon 8 points, 16 rebounds, 4 steals and 7 blocks.

A.Ayinla 17 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assist and 3 steals.