Following a convincing win against Nottingham Wildcats the night before, Elite were reading to go in the Sweet Sixteen of the National Cup. This round would put them up against regular powerhouse Manchester Magic. 

Having only matched up with Trafford Magic 3 weeks earlier, Sheffield Elite knew what was in store for this game and knew that they would have to perform to come away with a win. A win in this game would see them move to 5-1 in U18 Premier North and move them up the league standings. Sheffield would be without team captain Emanuel Kai, who dislocated his knee in practice the daye before, O'Daniel Creary and Amir Khan, who were both carrying minor knocks and Luke Baldwin who had been afforded a much deserved rest having played a lot of minutes up to this point. 

Despite their clear size disadvantage and being an age group below, it was Trafford who started the brighter of the 2 sides and were matching the scoring effors of Sheffield elite. Sheffield struggled to get into rhythm to start the game and were not at the levels they had set in the league the week previous. The 2 teams were continue to trade blows and ended the quarter tied at 20 a piece. 

A stern word in the break from head coach Aidan Appleyard and some more changes to freshen up the squad seemed to have done the trick. Scores from Kelvin Talbot, Addison Meredith and Tj Prado, who scored 15 of his 17 points in the 2nd quarter helped push the Sheffield side out to a lead. A great defensive display held the Manchester side to just 5 points, winning the quarter 27-5 and going into halftime up 22 points, 47-25. 

With one eye on the following weekend with a match up against league leaders Charnwood Riders, Coach Appleyard used this as an opportunity to give the players a rest and build on the confidence for guys coming in off of the bench. The half would start with Alex Munier, Devon Williams, Addison Meredith, Harry Butler and Dylan McCormack. It was clear the Trafford would not go down without and would come out looking to cut into the lead. Addison would start the scoring for Sheffield after a 5-0 run for Magic, with a strong move to the basket and a nice one step finish, followed up by a turnaround fadeaway from guard Devon Williams. Combining for 14 of the teams next 15 points, Dylan McCormack and Harry Butler would finish the quarter strong for Elite, Dylan making a trio of triples and Harry adding one for himself as well as 2 from the line.

Going into the final quarter up 25, 66-41, Elite would continue to use this as game to work on their sets, rotate the squad and prepare for the following week. Big man Michael Aleksandrov would dominate in the paint, with an obvious size advatange after Trafford big man Ege Cakmakkaya picked up an injury just before half time, scoring 8 points in the quarter as well as scores from Kelvin Talbot and George Andrews would see Sheffield Elite run out winners 88-53. 

Kelvin Talbot led the Sheffield scoring with 21 points, Michael Aleksandrov contributed 16 points and TJ Prado with 15.