Great Britain basketball captain Drew Sullivan was in attendance
Chadwell Heath Academy fell just short of winning gold at the Balfour Beatty London Youth Games schools’ basketball finals, but did earn silver for Redbridge.
The finals at the Score Centre were the culmination of months of knock-out competition, which saw the top four teams in male and female under-14 and under-16 competitions battling it out for a spot in the National Schools’ Finals in May.
Great Britain basketball captain Drew Sullivan, who represented Hackney at the Youth Games as a youngster, was in attendance and saw Chadwell Heath reach the final of the under-14 boys’ event with a comprehensive 94-54 success over Lampton School from Hounslow, after demonstrating a good mix of physical attack and defence in the semi-final to give them confidence ahead of the final.
But they couldn’t bring back gold as defending champions St Bonaventure’s of Newham showed their class and defeated Chadwell Heath 72-61.
Redbridge team manager Stavros Elia was proud of his team, but conceded the opposition proved too strong.
“We wanted to win the whole of England,” said Elia.
“To be fair we knew it was going to come between us and St Bons and we have got to give them credit. They did better than us, especially in the first half.
“It took the game a little bit away from us and we were always playing catch up. We just couldn’t get there, so full credit to them because they played smart basketball.”
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