Cheshire Wire Under 16 Premier team were 7 points short of becoming North Premier Champions for 2016.
After two nail biting matches over the last weekend of the regular season, both of which they needed to win and to beat Manchester Magic by 8 points if they were to secure the Under 16 North Premier title, the hard work of the players, coaches and all their families was almost rewarded. Alas, it wasn’t to be as the team narrowly failed to beat Manchester Magic by the requisite number of points and so the title went to Magic.
On the Saturday they completed what can only be described as a lack lustre performance to beat a determined and capable Manchester Giants team by 64 points to 45. But the quality of this performance didn’t matter as step one was now complete.
However, step two, Sundays’s performance against arch rivals for the title, Manchester Magic, in front of an enthusiastic crowd, can only be described as sensational. Already beaten twice this season by Magic in the league and cup, Wire needed to up their game if they were to come out victorious. All they need to do was to win and beat their opponents by 8 points, a tall order against such a skilled and talented team, and the league title would be theirs. And as the saying goes. they saved their best until last, the very last but it still wasn’t quite good enough to take the North Premier title.
The first quarter was a solid performance and by the end of it Wire were leading by 17 points to 12. Unfortunately, this lead quickly evaporated in the second quarter and by half time Wire were trailing to a strong Magic team by 4 points (22 points to 26). Magic’s lead increased to 8 points by the end of the third quarter (40 points to 48) and only a resilient and determined effort in the fourth quarter from Wire would be good enough if they were to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. And with less than 9 seconds remaining on the game clock, they managed to do just that as a determined drive and layup from Joe Bielak took Wire into the lead and they were able to run out winners of this exciting encounter by the closest of margins 57 points to 56 as Magic were unable to find the winning basket in the dying seconds.
Congratulations to the team on a magnificent season thus far from everyone at the club. Next stop the playoffs. Good luck!