Kian Gadsby and Sam Bunce
Nottingham Trent emerged with a 63-73 victory in the Men’s Basketball Varsity despite a spirited display from UoN.
The Green and Gold were major underdogs coming into the game. They hadn’t won a Varsity match since 2015, and whilst Trent finished Second in the National Championships as they lost in the final to Loughborough, UoN’s 1’s team compete in the Midlands tier 2 division.
Despite the odds, David Ross, which was buoyed by the victory for the Women’s team, had an electric atmosphere as the game started.
Tom King for Trent made a lay up to open the scoring, before UoN’s Rilewa Razzaq fired back with a brilliant three pointer.
Trent tried to show off their technical ability, but a behind the back pass from Shonibare was intercepted and UoN went up the other end and scored, showing that they would not be walked over despite the gap in the league position between the two sides.
UoN were keen to take advantage of their ability to shoot from range. This time it was Dani Akambi’s turn to get in on the act, as he executed a brilliant three pointer for the Green and Gold. He then made another brilliant shot from the top of the arc to make the score 15-15.
The first quarter was very lively as both sides regularly traded scores, trying to assert themselves early in the game. However, UoN struggled to hit their free throws, and they were unable to convert their rebounds, meaning that Trent eventually were able to take advantage.
Trent’s Akano showed his ability to shoot. He hit two stunning three pointers, sandwiching a deep two pointer, as he showed his excellent agility and dribble to separate from his defender and fire the shot. His buckets left Trent up 16-23 in the first quarter.
At the start of the second quarter, Walker opted to pass back for Trent instead of going for the basket, but his pass was cut out. However, it mattered little, as a dunk from Skoric added some flair to Trent’s dominance.
UoN called a timeout early in the quarter to try and stop the flow of Trent baskets. They achieved this, as they didn’t concede any points for 2 minutes after the game restarted, but they were still making the same errors as in the first quarter. That meant they only scored one point in the opening five minutes of the quarter.
Trent were frustrated by the lack of scoring, and they called their own timeout. Whatever was said insporvar the huddle clearly worked, as Skoric immediately repeated his dunk to extend their lead. However, that basket was immediately cancelled out by Ben Holland, as UoN stayed fairly close behind Trent in the game.
The Green and Gold then started to build some momentum as they tried to get back into the game. Max Masters made two three throws, before a deep two pointer from Holland and a finish from Masters off the glass briefly made it a four-point game.
Trent were rattled, and they called yet another timeout to try to turn the game around. However, it backfired as straight out of the timeout Jakey Weech hit a three pointer to continue the comeback.
UoN ended the first half firmly on top, as Ben Holland finally converted a free throw to leave the Green and Gold only two points behind their opponents at 31-33 heading into the half time break.
UoN tried to start the second half by taking the lead, although unfortunately they missed three attempts at three pointers to do so, whilst Trent extended their advantage as Petras and King found the basket from close range.
UoN went on a mini run of scoring after that, and a basket from Holland briefly made it a one point game, before Trent’s Akano and Walker restored the visitors’ advantage with successive layups.
Trent started to pull away. A beautiful basket from Shonibare was followed by a three pointer from Taliaferro, although UoN responded immediately with a three of their own to keep the game close. Weech then demonstrated brilliant skill and strength to hold his defender off before brilliantly bouncing the ball through to Masters to score.
The game had an end to end feel about it, as baskets were frequently traded and every score was ferociously cheered by the raucous crowd.
The third quarter ended in a three-point game at 53-56, thanks to Ben Holland going 3/3 for free throws late in the quarter. This left the game was completely up for grabs heading into the final quarter.
Once again, it was Trent who started the quarter in the ascendency, as Skoric found the basket to extend the lead. A cheap turnover then saw Petras steal the ball within the UoN three point arc, and he dunked the ball to extend Trent’s advantage to seven points.
The hosts needed to find a way back into the game, but instead it was Trent who pressed home the advantage. Walker played an excellent behind the back pass to find Skoric open in the paint, making Trent’s advantage nine points.
A three pointer from Will Pickup meant UoN were back in the game, but an unfortunate slip from Holland saw Walker put free on a wide open basket, meaning that Uni of needed at least three scores to tie the game.
Olatunde then scored two free throws to make the Trent lead 10 points. UoN needed some three point baskets and defensive stops to win. Unfortunately, Olatunde scored again from under the basket, meaning it became a 12 point game with three minutes to play.
The Green and Gold became desperate for points, and kept shooting from range to try and get themselves back into the game. Those shots kept missing the basket, whilst Trent continued to break and score.
The game ended 63-73 to Trent. This result made the Varsity scores UoN 4-2 Trent, with plenty of sporting action still to come.
In article image 1 courtesy of @uonmbb via Instagram. No changes were made to this image.?
In article image 2 courtesy of @marcusawphoto via Instagram. No changes were made to this image.?
For more content including uni news, reviews, entertainment, lifestyle, features and so much more, follow us on Twitter and Instagram, and like our Facebook page for more articles and information on how to get involved.
For further sports content and ways to get involved, follow @ImpactSport on Twitter and Instagram, and like the Impact Sport Facebook page!
