Bavaria claim RBT title

BAVARIA BLUE STARS HOLD BUCHANAN TROPHY

The Richie Buchanan Trophy, donated by one of its former players over 50 years ago, was held by Bavaria Blue Stars last week. The modifications to this season’s competition format, in which all 12 senior men’s teams, plus the u18 Select, played each other once, with the top four placed going through to the quarter finals, saw the Stars just making it in fourth place. After disposing of their club’s Giants, they faced first seed Europa Valmar in the best-of-three matches semi-final - one of the modifications - and duly won by 2-1.

The final, also to best-of-three, pitted Stars against RCA Bricklayers. The 3 matches were scheduled for Monday, Wednesday and Friday (if a third match was necessary)
of last week, but Stars clinched the title, for the third consecutive time, by 2-0.

MATCH 1 - BAVARIA BLUE STARS 83 - RCA BRICKLAYERS 70

A 17-2 run in 6 minutes, spearheaded by 7 points from Angel Guerrero and 5 apiece from Chico Ortiz and Thomas Yome, and brilliant defence, effectively put Stars in the driving seat, having gone behind by 3-7 in the first 2 minutes. They led 24-16 at the end of the first quarter and, although RCA momentarily reduced the gap to 5 points (28-23) midway through the second quarter, countered with a 19-8 blitz, led by Yome’s 9 points, to double the lead to 16 points (47-31) by half-time.

A 7-0 start to the third quarter, in just over a minute, increased the lead to 54-31 and it looked all over, but RCA had not read the script. A marked increase in defensive intensity resulted in a string of turnovers, led by 11 points from Chang Chin Thong and 7 from Aaron Santos, as Stars floundered. To add to their woes, Guerrero clocked up his fourth foul a minute from the end of the quarter, which ended with Stars’ half-time lead halved to 64-56.

RCA had the bit between their teeth and Stars seemed incapable of halting their opponents’ drive towards what seemed like a win. Midway through the last quarter, after a 37-15 blitz in the space of 12 minutes, Stars were just 69-68 ahead, but that marked the end of RCA’s fight back. Stars regained control, as RCA appeared to tire, and reeled off a 14-2 run in the last 5 minutes to take Match 1 of the final by 83-70.

Teams (points in brackets):

Bavaria Blue Stars - Guerrero (23), Yome (19), Ortiz (16), Alvaro Guzman (12), Nicky Gracia (8), Theo Dalmedo (3), Eric Marchena (2), Adam Sobhi.

RCA Bricklayers - Thong (26), Ian Yeats (16), Roydon Reyes (13), Santos (11), Nicky Lopez (2), Lee Perez (2), Nathan Nanwani, Brandon Sawyer.

Referees: Shane Bassett and Darren Borge,

MATCH 2 - RCA Bricklayers 69 - Bavaria Blue Stars 86

Stars, well handled by Javi Duarte, standing in for Thomas Yome, unable to play, raced to a 25-14 first quarter lead, which increased to 15 points (29-14) after one minute of the second quarter, Duarte bagging 13 points by then. RCA missed Callum Culross, who had also missed Match 1 through suspension, but managed to stem the flow for the remainder of the quarter, which ended with Stars 45-30 up.

At this stage, the match was developing almost identical features to Match 1, but it stopped there. Stars kept their focus and their matchup defence succeeded in keeping the dangerous Thong quiet. RCA, however, fought hard and managed to reduce their deficit to 9 points (51-60) by the end of the third quarter. It was then 71-64 midway through the last quarter but that was the nearest RCA got. A 15-5 run in the last 5 minutes gave Stars Match 2 by 86-69, and the Richie Buchanan Trophy, presented to captain Nicky Gracia, together with medals to the winners, by Executive Committee member Andrew Teuma.

Teams:

Bavaria Blue Stars - Ortiz (26), Guerrero (23), Duarte (15), Rafa Aradas (8), Guzman (8), Gracia (3), Marchena (3).

RCA Bricklayers - Yeats (24), Reyes (22), Lopez (15), Santos (5), Thong (3), Perez, Nanwani.

Referees: James Dominique and Andrew Yeats.

YOUTH LEAGUE RESULTS

U18: Europa Valmar 74 (Louis Dalmedo 35, Enrique Navarro 14, Marco O’Connor 13, Pablo Postigo 12) — Lincoln Bayside 57 (Dandan Cassaglia 13, Kingsley Sylvester 12, Nico Perez 12).

U17w: Lincoln Bayside 48 (Sofia Afzan 11) - Bavaria Blue Stars Pink 20.

U16: Europa Valmar 68 (O’Connor 29) - Deloitte Dragons 41 (Javier Felice 10)

U14b: Bavaria Blue Stars Pink 50 (Ben Lejeune 25) - Lincoln Bayside 26
Europa Valmar 57 (Jamie Attias 20, Maxi Torres 18) - Bavaria Blue Stars Blue 54 (Kamran Sassani 20, Oliver Lines 20).

U12mixed: Bavaria Blue Stars 50 (Leo Genal 20, Kaydan Neale 10) - Hercules FC 25 (Briella Bagu 21).