Filton College : 133
Swindon New College: 23

Filton College moved comfortably through to the last 16 of the English Schools elite Under 19 boys cup competition with the demolition of New College Swindon.

Filton were able to recover from a slow start in the first quarter to win the first period 21 points to 7 points as they cruised into a very comfortable lead. Dan Poole, Sean Porter and Ollie Roy getting early points to establish the lead and a quick 5 points off of the bench from Mike Farage at the end of the quarter took the teams into the first break.

The second quarter saw Filton again build a much larger lead as the inexperienced Swindon team were unable to cope with the Home teams pressure defence and ability to score on the numerous fast breaks created from the defence. Ashley John Lewis benefitted from another Filton steal midway through the quarter and rewarded the Dan Poole assist with a dunk. Sean Porter, Matt Brunt and Ben Kelloway made the most of the quarter scoring easy baskets as the Filton team began to move the ball with more purpose than in their first quarter performance. Filton closed out the half a free throw from Porter and another fastbreak lay up from Ashley John-Lewis going into the break leading 56 points to 17.

The third quarter saw Filton rotate 2 different units onto the floor looking at different offensive and defensive targets for the home team. Senior players lead by John Lewis, Sule, Porter, Brunt and Nyori started the quarter and again forced numerous Swindon Turnovers which were converted on the fast break with simple lay ups or jump shots.
Filton rotted a younger 5 in midway through the quarter to work on something different which they did with clinical results. The five of Kelloway, Roy, Poole, Omoyemi and Farage ran set play after set play converting simple wide open looks in every offence. Defensively the zone press again rewarded the players with more simple fast break baskets and made for some good basketball for the watching crowd. Filton ended the third period with a huge lead 96 points to 19 points and although the score line was very one sided the Swindon players fought hard to make the game as difficult as they could for the Home team.

The fourth quarter saw Filton Again make the rotations of the two fives with Marcus Pugh joining the senior players and making an impact with some great shooting from the outside. The quarter finished with Filton winning the games by 110 points and moving comfortably through to the last 16 of the National Competition.

“ We know that today was one of those game which we have to play each year, Swindon worked as hard as they could today but just do not have the experience that we have here at one of England top basketball academies. It was never going to be in doubt that we would win the game it was the manner in which we did it. After some harsh words at half time we played a much better second half using the game to practice set situations and other things we have done on the practice court. We know that in the last 16 we will meet teams similar to ourselves and unless we are prepared could quite easily be knocked out. We have consistently reached the quarter finals of this competition over the last 5 years and it would be nice to see us take a step further this year. We have lots to work on before the next round draw but after the Christmas break we will prepare for this” Guy Coles Flyers Under 18 and head development coach.

Filton Scorers:
Dan Poole 17, Harim Nyori 3, Sean Porter 24, Mak Sule 5, Marcus Pugh 7, Ben Kelloway 14, Ollie Roy, 11, Iri Omoyemi 4, Matt Brunt 12, Ashley John-Lewis 20, Mike Farage 14.