EAST LOTHIAN NEWS ARTICLE

Haddington, North Berwick win youth basketball finals

Published on Thursday 18 March 2004 09:26

LAST Friday saw the finals of the East Lothian Youth Basketball League played at Musselburgh Sports Centre.
Stuart Mackay, 6ft 10in centre for the East Lothian Peregrines and Scotland, was on hand to present the awards to the fledgling Peregrines players before stepping into action for the Green and Whites in the first round of the Scottish Cup against Edinburgh Buccaneers.



Building on the success of last year's programme, the Youth League was expanded this year to include U-12 and U-14 sections.



Very exciting



Teams from Musselburgh, Meadowmill, Haddington, North Berwick and Dunbar competed against each other prior to East Lothian Peregrines home matches.



Finals night saw a pair of very exciting matches. Teams from Meadowmill and Haddington competed for the U-14 Trophy.



With the Meadowmill team fielding three Scotland U-14 Development Squad members in their ranks, they were clearly the favourites going into the contest.



However, once the game got under way it became evident to the fans of both teams that this was going to be no one horse race.



Excellent play



Both teams were clearly intent on making sure they gave their all in their quest for glory and the game could best be described as a defensive tussle.



The Haddington underdogs, through their excellent team play and defensive intensity, were eventual winners in a match that can only bode well for the future of East Lothian basketball.



The final score in the U-14 final was Haddington 11, Meadowmill 5.



The U-12 final saw Haddington once again represented, this time against North Berwick.



Fired up



This game looked at first like it was going to be a whitewash, with the North Berwick team jumping to an impressive first quarter lead, extending this in the second period.



However, the Haddington players and coaching staff were not going to give up without a fight and came out fired up into the second half to mount a comeback.



The North Berwick team did well to weather the storm and were able to maintain their composure and win the match 17-8.