BASKETBALL: Bury lads hit back with fine victory (From Bury Times)

BASKETBALL: Bury lads hit back with fine victory

9:00am Thursday 14th February 2013 in Sport By Bury Times Sports Reporter

BURY Blue Devils Under-16s followed up their 114-69 defeat at the hands of National League North Conference leaders York Eagles 1 with a 68-50 win at Barrow Thorns.

The first two quarter against the Eagles will be periods of play the local youngsters will want to forget after being outplayed and losing both quarters 39-10 and 29-16, effectively rendering the clash game over by half time.

They rallied in the third quater with Mukhtar Nasir, Jack Hargreaves, Sulaiman Qadeer and Sam Nolan Massey helping them to win the period 28-18 to get them within 22 points of their rivals.

The final period started promisingly with the Blue Devils going on a 10-2 run before the starting five players were rested and the Bury youngsters lost the quarter 28-13.

The game at Barrow was a much more positive one for the local boys who showed great character and resilience after their mauling the previous day.

Bury led throughout the game, apart from in the second minute, when they were 3-2 down. They won the first quarter 23-14 with Nasir cutting through the Barrow defence either converting himself or creating easy scores for other players.

The Barrow coach responded by reverting to zonal defence which the young Blue Devils took a while to come to terms with, but they held on, winning the second period 15-14.

It remained tight in the third quarter and level on points until Qadeer contributed two baskets in the last minute to help Bury win the period 17-14.

In the fourth period, Barrow tried to press to get back into the game, but Bury were up for the challenge and responded with fast-break attacking which resulted in easy scores for Nolan Massey and Hargreaves with Alen Ramic and Tom Entwistle also chipping in as Blue Devils dominated the quarter 15-8 to seal a convincing win.

Next fixture is a local derby, on Saturday at Oldham Titans with a 3.15pm tip off at Oasis Academy.

Top Scorers over the two games: Mukhtar Nasir 44 pts, Sam Nolan Massey 26, Sulaiman Qadeer 23, Jack Hargreaves 16.