With Sheffield finally at full strength & not missing any key players for the first time this season, the U16’s were fired up to show what they are capable of after a big loss to Milton Keynes the day before. Mersey have had a strong start to the season with a 5-1 record with only 1 loss to Manchester Magic. 

The first quarter went back and forth with both sides showing some good offensive & defensive execution ending Q1 18-14 in favour of Mersey. It was the second quarter where Sheffield defence fell apart & Mersey’s Number 2 caught fire with 14 points in the quarter leaving Sheffield down 50-29 at the end of the half. 

Coach Morey truly believed his team could mount a comeback and made this very clear to his team at half time, after some adjustments to the playstyle & Sheffield being much more aggressive on defence and attacking the paint on offence, Elite won the 3rd 22-19. 

Despite still being down 18, Sheffield kept fighting & caused Mersey some real trouble forcing them into numerous turnovers & cut the lead to 5 with 4 minutes to go. After a timeout called by the Mavericks they showed why they’re 5-1 with some patient offence making the Sheffield defence scramble & punishing early misses from Sheffield getting out for some easy fast break layups. Sheffield came out of the timeout and showed their youth & immaturity with some poor execution on offence & doing the complete opposite of what was said in the Sheffield timeout regarding shot selection & being patient on offence. Mersey ended up pulling away & ended with a 70-79 win moving the Mavericks to 6-1. 

Despite the loss, Elite showed positive signs that when they’re locked in & execute what’s being asked of them, they’re right up there with a team who are top 4 in the table but still have a way to go in consistency & maintaining the same level of focus for 40 minutes.

Ikenna Alisi, Raphael Taylor & Robbie Oliver  - 13 Points Each