Birmingham Lions 1st team began the season with a confident 80-60 victory against a battling Warwick side, building upon last season’s impressive results that left them unlucky to finish second only on points difference.
The game began as a deeply physical affair, with frequent fouls and both sides constantly grappling for possession, but Birmingham quickly began to assert their authority. Birmingham’s number 5 dictated the tempo of their attacking play, and stopped Warwick getting into any sort of rhythm. Had it not been for wasteful finishing, Birmingham would have enjoyed a healthy lead at the end of the first quarter, but they failed to take full advantage of Warwick’s ill-discipline.
The second quarter signalled an improvement in Birmingham’s shooting, racking up a 14-point lead by half-time, a lead soon eaten into by a Warwick side who briefly applied some real pressure in the third quarter. Whether caused by complacency or perhaps a lack of concentration, the profligacy that typified the first quarter returned to Birmingham’s attacking play and this enabled Warwick to come within seven points. A wonderful alley-oop kept the scoreboard ticking over for the Lions.
Although defending a slenderer lead than they might have hoped, Birmingham really pushed on in the final quarter, and crushed any hope of a Warwick revival with a burst of clinical finishes. Any Warwick attacks were nullified by an organised Birmingham defence, who managed to cut off any the attacking channels, and frequently squeezed the attackers until they could steal the ball, much to the delight of the not-so-impartial home crowd.
Ultimately, Birmingham’s superior discipline, resoluteness in defence and flair in attack, made the difference, and led to a convincing twenty-point victory. Whilst there were clearly things to be improved on, particularly their accuracy when shooting, they must be content with a win that sets them up nicely for the rest of the season.
UoB Men’s Basketball 1’s v.s Warwick 14/10/15 by Burnfm_Sport on Mixcloud
