Myerscough Basketball’s European adventures continue

The group headed to Riga, Latvia, for the second phase of the tournament, playing five games across three days. The under-20 competition regular season, which is staged across three weekends throughout the year, concludes with a Final Four next year, with the third phase taking place in February.

Myerscough were named champions of Stage II, after winning all five of their games over three days, against Sandvika BBK (69-47), BC Liepaja (54-41), BS Jugla (69-57), BC Ventspils (62-52), and BC London Elite (54-47).

The EYBL is one of the premier FIBA competitions for juniors and features renowned teams from across the continent, with Myerscough joining the Under-20 ‘Euroleague’ format tournament. The results put Myerscough in first place in the U20 league table, which comprises of seventeen teams from different countries across the continent, with a record of nine wins from ten games.]

Neal Hopkins, Myerscough’s Basketball Programme Leader, said: “The thing we’ve really learned over the last 12 months is the effectiveness of the British style in Europe.

“We have a lot of weapons and you can talk about the competitiveness of our players, and, obviously, that’s a major factor in why we’re having the success we’ve had. We’ve been really trying to utilise our strengths rather than force ourselves to be something we’re not.

“The boys have bought into what we as a coaching staff are trying to preach and that makes us a difficult team to play against.”

“Any one of these players knows they’re a starter. We don’t lose anything when we go to the bench and that’s the reason why we’re in the position we’re in with a chance to do something special.”