Heavy Defeat for GABBA Juniors

GABBA Junior Men suffered a heavy defeat against CB Algeciras in the first leg of the semi-final on Sunday, in a disappointing weekend where the Cadets were pipped to second place in a thriller, and the Under 14 Boys lost. The first two of these matches were played in La Linea as the TSH floor is being replaced and, consequently, this venue is currently not available. The Under 14 Girls recorded our only win, away in La Linea, as scheduled.

FULL RESULTS

JUNIOR MEN (UNDER 18), SEMI-FINAL (1st leg):
GABBA 44 (Javi Felice 16) - CB Algeciras 67 [12-15; 12-23; 14-17; 6-12].

The team from across the bay, coached by former GABBA Technical Director, Adam Cassaglia, with 4 local boys (Julek Wojniak, Jack Cassaglia, Matthew Byrne and Oliver Lines) in its line-up, were too strong for our team. They have recently won the Under 16 A Division, and finished third in the Under 18 B Division Group 1. Our team had knocked out the team that had finished second, ahead of CBA, in the quarter-finals, and were hoping to do well. They did so up to midway through the second quarter.
The first quarter was evenly contested, and this was the pattern up to the 5th minute of the second quarter (18-19), but two quick 3-pointers signalled the start of a blistering 19-6 run which opened a gap of 14 points by half-time.
This was brought down to 9 early in the second-half and GABBA managed to hold CBA to this difference up to the last minute of the quarter, but were undone by two more 3’s to start the the last period 17 down. Without a point in the first 5 minutes, GABBA succumbed. The 23 points’ deficit is a tall mountain to climb when the teams meet again in Algeciras this coming weekend.

CADET BOYS (UNDER 16):
GABBA 50 (Shae Felice 22, Ben Lejeune 17) - Puerto Real 51 [6-21; 5-11; 21-7; 18-12].

Playing their last match of the season, with second place in Group 3 at stake, it looked all over by half-time as the visitors ran up a 21 points’ lead. GABBA’s performance until then was woeful, but they made up for it in the second-half, starting the third quarter with a 9-0 run in 4 minutes, reducing the deficit to 7 by the start of the fourth. Puerto Real reacted in the first 5 minutes to increase their lead to 13, but GABBA were not fazed and were just 4 down with a minute to play, during which time they went up to the free-shot line for 6 attempts. Sadly, 3 were missed, and the brave fight-back fell short by 1 point.

UNDER 14 GIRLS:
Union Linense 24 - GABBA 74 (Erin Doherty 17, Chloe Balban 13, Briella Bagu 12) [12-29; 6-22; 6-23; 0-0].

As previously explained, recording of points stops when the difference between the teams’ tally reaches 50 points, although the match is played in full, with only personal fouls recorded. Our girls reached the above difference after 7 minutes of the third quarter.

UNDER 14 BOYS:
Cimbis 82 - GABBA 32 (Ralph Falero Manktelow 12, Jake Torres 10) [29-6; 25-8; 5-16; 23-2].

Our boys never gave up against a much stronger opponent, winning the third quarter, and only falling 50 points behind 7 seconds from full-time.