Warwick Basketball Clinch 1A Title

Triumph against the Cambridge 1st team on January 20th marked an unprecedented run of success for Warwick basketball. The win enabled them to secure the top spot in a competitive 1A conference for the first time in the University’s history.

Facing a Cambridge team fighting against relegation, a depleted Warwick squad saw out the season in style with a convincing 16 point margin. The win allowed Warwick to wrap up the number one seed prior to their final game against local rivals Coventry last week.

Ending the season with a 9-1 record, player-coach Andy ‘Tic-Tac’ Jeffries was clearly delighted with the team’s achievements.

“Whilst the season hasn’t been as easy as our record would suggest, we’ve managed to repeatedly come out on top in close games, something that I attribute to the cohesion that we’ve displayed since day one.”

When asked if winning the league has been a realistic goal since the start of the season, Jeffries replied, “Absolutely – I believed that we had the players to succeed in the areas that we’ve failed in previous years.”

New additions Dimitris ‘Stavros’ Sereleas, Kelvin ‘Noodle’ Heng, Ben Petkivicious and Mo Al-Assaff have bolstered the Warwick roster, adding speed, rebounding and depth to the returning core of the squad.

As a result, the team has displayed strengths in multiple departments, conceding the fewest points whilst scoring the most of any team in the conference. Captain Tom Care was keen to emphasise their suffocating defense as the key to their success, enabling an offense that relies on fast breaks and three-pointers to overwhelm their opponents.

“We’ve won games by an average of 10 points, which is impressive when considering the strength of the competition.” As with any successful season, one often looks to specific moments or games that come to embody the achievements of the team. When pressed for his opinion, fitness trainer Jessie Melo showed little hesitation in highlighting away wins against Coventry and Oxford Brookes (second and third place respectively) as crucial victories in what became a three-horse race for the league.

Sealing wins in both these games allowed Warwick to finish the league 9 points clear of their nearest rivals.

For all the success they’ve experienced since the start of the season, their string of victories will count for little if they don’t defeat other regional division winners Durham and Stirling in weeks 8 and 9.

With all three teams vying for the only promotion spot for next season, Warwick will have to be at the top of their game in order to become only the University’s second sports team in a premier league.

In addition to this, Warwick has made it through to the final 16 teams in the nation through qualification to the BUCS Basketball Cup, and will be competing against premier division winners Oxford next week.

Pitting themselves against one of the top teams in the country should give the team a good taste of the league that they hope to be competing in this time next year.