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The junior squad completed an Icelandic double as they beat the Iceland u21’s 107-81.

The U21s got off to a quick start as PF Andy King scoring 4 points early on. Iceland pulled it back to a 1 point game but an 11-0 run, including 5 points from SF Sivaskaren Kanjilal in the run. Iceland were able to close the gap slightly as the quarter ended 26-21 to England.

3 dunks early in the 2nd quarter set the tone from the England junior squad. 8 quick points off the bench from SG Gilbert Harrison stretched the lead to 13 as the half ended with the score at 51-38.

The 3rd period was a back and forth period as both teams made small runs but neither could take hold of the quarter. The England advantage went in to the final period at 15.

The first 6 mins of the final period England held off any Iceland run and maintained a 15 point lead. The bench unit came in and took care of business to finish the game strong as they extended the lead to 26 to end the game.

Players of the game:
3 points- Andy King- 10-13 shooting on his way to 22 points along with 9 rebounds. He also had the job of guarding Iceland’s best player
2 points- Sivaskaren Kanjilal- 21 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds and a game high +18. A solid all round game for Kanjilal
1 point- Johnny Waite- The backup C had 10 points and 8 rebounds in only 14 minutes of action to help the bench unit maintain the high level of play.

Congratulations on a victory in your first game in charge!


I wasn't sure how NT tournaments worked, so I'll post snippits from the manual below in case anyone else is in the same boat.

Our group (with global ranking) is as follows:

Pool D:

4th Deutschland
15th Bosna i Hercegovina
28th Suomi (Finland)
37th England
47th Cyprus
56th Schweiz
70th Ísland
87th Hayastan (Armenia)

The national team competitions take place over the course of two seasons. During the first season, teams will compete in a continental championship tournament that also serves as the qualifying tournament for the World Championships. Continental qualifying takes place for the National Teams in odd-numbered seasons, and the World Championships take place in even-numbered seasons.

Europe Schedule:

There are 48 teams in BuzzerBeater Europe. The 48 teams are drawn into six groups containing eight teams each. Each group will play a round robin from Week 2 to Week 8. The top two teams will advance into two second-round groups of six, with no teams from the same 1st Round group drawn into the same 2nd round group. Results will not carry forward from the 1st Round to the 2nd Round.

These groups play a round robin from Week 9 to Week 13. The top two from each group play in the semifinals in Week 14 and finals the Friday of Week 14. The two finalists qualify for the World Championships. The remaining two semifinalists as well as both teams finishing third in a second-round group qualify for the Second Chance Qualifiers.

World Championships:

12 teams qualify for the World Championships, and are drawn into two first-round groups of six. Each group will consist of two continental champions, two continental runners-up (the preceding four teams will all be from different confederations), and two Second Chance Qualifiers (with no regard to confederation).

Consolation Tournament:

National teams that do not qualify for the World Championships will enter the Consolation Tournament.

The England senior squad dominated the second half to come out on top 105-85 over Switzerland.

The first half was a game of runs. England made the first run going up 4 midway through the first quarter before Switzerland tied the game at 16-16. A 10-4 run by England, including back to back 3s from SF Ken Greene, ended the quarter at 26-20.

The lead was extended to 10 early in the second period but Switzerland again battled back to reduce the lead to 1 point before 2 free throws from SG Magdaleno Banuelos ended the half with England up 3.

Banuelos came out on fire in the second half as he scored 8 straight points and claimed an assist to PF Ian Needham as the lead went up to 8. The England offence stayed hot as the lead increased to double figures as they led 74-62 going in to the final quarter.

PG Kim Bujalska and Needham opened the 4th quarter scoring as the lead extended to 19 points with 9 minutes to play and Switzerland looked dead and buried. The score line ticked along to the end of the game with the final score being 105-85.

Players of the game:
3 points- SF Ken Greene- Greene once again produced an impressive all round game. Team high 25 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists on 10-17 shooting, 3-3 from downtown.
2 points- SG Magdaleno Banuelos- 21 points on only 13 shots in another efficient scoring game. Banuelos also had a game high +21
1 point- PF Ian Needham- 17/8/5 stat line for Needham lands him 1 MVP point.

England u21s make it 2-0 in the consultation tournament with a solid home performance against Belgium.

Belgium came in to the game with powerful inside scoring and that showed at the start of the game as their two bigs scored 8 out of their first 10 points to claim an early 10-4 lead before 6 points from SF Sivasekaren Kanjilal reduced the lead to 3 as the bench unit came in to the game. The bench started strong with a 9-1 run put England ahead 20-14 but Belgium clawed the lead back, heading in to the end of the quarter 24-23 up.

The 2nd quarter was very much back and forth with neither team able to pull away. SG David Hughes hit a 3 in the final seconds to give England a 3 point lead heading in to half time.

A 9-2 run by England put them up by 9 points and in pole position in the game. England continued the strong run in the period. PF Andy King showed his dominance as he hit 5 shots in a row and grabbed offensive rebounds to increase the lead to
78-61 after 3 quarters.

England managed to push the lead up to 23 points but Belgium put up a bit of a fight to end the game 97-83 in favour of the England junior team.

3 points- PG Jordan Birtwhistle- 21 points and 6 assists on 8-13 shooting dominated the Belgium PG who shot only 1-9FG.
2 points- PF Andy King- King had a 11 point 11 rebound double-double. He also had a dominant run in the 3rd quarter during the run that effectively won the game.
1 point- SG David Hughes- game high +16 and a tied team high 21 points is good enough to give Hughes 1 MVP point for the season.

Thanks for the write-ups. Belgium U21 are ranked slightly ahead of us so that's a nice win.

Based off previous U21 consolation tournaments, five wins and a good PD is the minimum to qualify for the next round. We have two home games vs very small nations (Barbados and Pakistan), so if we can get one or two wins from the other four games we'll be in good shape.

Yes I've seen the draw, and I'm very optimistic! If we have good game shape throughout the run I think we can beat every team we've been drawn against. Australia, Latvia and Croatia will be pretty tough, especially as we play them all in a row so can't save enthusiasm. I think our squad is better than Latvia and Croatia but we play them away and after Australia so we'll see how they go. Singapore also won't be easy as they have better enthusiasm than us but we have a much better team than them.

In the last consolation tournament 2 seasons ago we qualifies in the last spot by 1 PD with a 5-3 record. I'm hoping this season we can get at least 6/7 (maybe even 8!) wins based on our draw.

England struggled to keep pace with the always efficient Germans as they fall to a 99-119 defeat.

England started well as they took an early 6 point lead 6minutes in to the game. England were sharing the shots out as all 5 starters scored a basket in each to start the game. The shots kept falling as England started the game shooting 10-11 FG! Germany found their feet as they were able to pull back the game to end the period tied at 32.

The Germans kept up the momentum they had started in the first quarter as they took the lead 8minutes before half time and powered on to build a 8 point lead at the half.

The lead expanded further at the start of the second half as the Germans quickly made it a 13 point game. C Dexter Barral fouled out early in the 3rd quarter and the Germans never looked back.

The Germans took advantage of the England C fouling out as their advantage free from between 10-14 to 15-20 points in the final period.

England have a crucial game next week against Finland, who are currently 3-0. Both teams will be looking to get a big win in the race for qualification.

Players of the game:
3 points- SF Ken Greene- once again Greene produces an efficient all round game as he finished with 17 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists on 8-15 shooting. Greene also held the German SF to 5-12 FG.
2 points- PF Sean Hargreaves- 16 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds and 2 steals and only a -8 game shows how good Hargreaves can be after missing all last season due to bad club management.
1 point- SG Magdaleno Banuelos- 16 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists for the dynamic guard.

England u21s move to 3-0 with an early morning victory over Singapore u21s.

The early morning was clearly effecting the England juniors as it took almost 2 minutes to score their first basket, which SF Sivaskaren Kanjilal scored. England then woke up and went on an 11-0 run to open the game at 11-2. Both teams traded baskets and the quarter ended 19-10 in favour of England.

The second period started just like the first ended, with neither team able to take control. PF Andy King was dominant on the boards as he reached his double-double mark with only 18mins of the game played. Kanjilal was also putting his mark on the game with numerous plays including scoring, steals and rebounding to put England in a strong position at the half.

After a impressive first half, Kanjilal struggled in the 3rd quarter which gave backup SF David Miller his chance to shine, and that he did.

With a 22 point lead heading in to the 4th quarter, the bench unit came in. David Miller and backup C Elvin Goodhew impressed but Singapore found their scoring boots and scored 31 points in the quarter as the game ended 95-78.

Players of the game:
3 points- PF Andy King- King was a beast on the boards and Singapore had no answer for him. He ended the game with 19 points and 14 rebounds including 9 offensive rebounds. King also held his opposing PF to 6-22 shooting and 4 turnovers.
2 points- SF Sivaskaren Kanjilal- Kanjilal’s game high +20 showed his importance in the game. A stat line of 12 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals in 25mins earns him 2 points
1 point- SF David Miller- both SFs picking up points. Miller came off the bench to score 15 points in 23 minutes to lead the bench unit.

England pull off the upset as they beat 27th ranked Finland 78-65 to move to 3-1 on the season.

England got off to a good start as C Dexter Barral and PG Phil Marichal showed an impressive 2-man game to score some early baskets. The lead jumped up to 9 points with a big dunk from SF Ian Needham. A 3-pointer from Marichal pushed the score to 20-9 before a 10-0 run towards the end of the 1st quarter and start of the 2nd from Finland pulled them back in to the game at 20-19.

Baskets from SG Magdaleno Banuelos and PF Ken Greene put the lead back to 5. The lead was pushed back up to 9 again with a putback dunk and 3 pointer from SF Alexey Sanders. In the final 6 minutes of the first half, England were able to go on a 14-4 run to take command of the game and a 19 point lead.

The first few minutes of the second half were tightly fought as England were able to maintain their double digit lead but Finland were slowly clawing back in to the game. A poor offensive quarter saw England score only 10 points and with a quick 5-0 to end the quarter, Finland were back to only 6 points behind heading in to the final period.

A quick alley-oop from Needham to Marichal 3 seconds in to the period showed the intent from England as they looked to secure victory. 2 more dunks from Greene and Banuelos pushed the lead back up to 12 with 10 minutes to play. A nervy last 10 minutes from both teams saw the England lead stay above 8 for the remainder of the game before the game ended with the score at 78-65.

A big win for England against a team ranked 13 places higher and we’re 3-0 this season. With both teams now at 3-1 the battle for qualification is beating up. Finland still have to face the unbeaten Germany next week while England what should be an easier task against Armenia.

Players of the game:
3 points- PG Phil Marichal- the veteran PG top scored with 17 points and led the team during their big runs to maintain the lead throughout the game.
2 points- SF Alexey Sanders- the SF finally in game shape impressed with a game high +16 as well as holding his opposing SF, who was seen as Finland’s main threat, to only 3-15 shooting
1 point- PF Ken Greene- Greene put in another solid all-round performance with 10 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals on 4-9 shooting.

Achieving the biggest points differential was the aim of the game for the England U21s as they faced 89th ranked Barbados.

This was evident early on as the first 2 shots for England came after only 10 seconds in to the shot clock, SG David Hughes assisting C Jamie Hermann for the first basket before scoring himself with a driving layup. Scoring wasn’t the only point of emphasis as Barbados were kept scoreless for the first 8 minutes of the game before 2 free throws got them on the scoreboard, the score at 18-2. A 3 pointer from C Andy King and baskets from SF Jonathan Hendriks kept the scoreboard booming for the England juniors as the quarter ended with the score at 31-5.

PG Jordan Birtwhistle got the second period off to a quick start as he scored his 2nd 3 pointer of the game 3 seconds in to the quarter. Barbados we’re able to hold England scoreless for almost 2 minutes from then before Birtwhistle and free throws from PF Sivasekaren Kanjilal got the score ticking again. All this started a 20-0 run for England as they again kept Barbados scoreless for the first 8 minutes of quarter two. England’s lead at half time was 44 points, but they weren’t finished there.

A 27-9 third quarter added to Barbados’ misery as England continued their dominance. David Hughes’ all round effort throughout the game was rewarded as he picked up his 10th rebound of the game from the SG position to give him his double-double. With the score at 88-21 with a minute to go, garbage time was in full effect. Another 3 pointer from King and a dunk from Hendriks ended the period with the score at 93-21.

England’s defence let off slightly in the final period as Barbados scored double digits for the only time in the game, however the offence kept flowing as England added another 30 points to their total. The defence started well as Barbados only scored 2 points in the first 7 minutes of the quarter. Hendriks took over the 4th quarter as he scored 8 points along with 2 steals and 2 assists.

The final score ended at 123-31 as England push on unbeaten in the tournament, now at 4-0. England face their toughest challenge yet as they face 21st ranked Australia next week.

3 points- David Hughes- Hughes was all over the place as his final stat line was 18 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals with a game high +58.
2 points- Jonathan Hendricks- Hendriks staked his name for future consideration on his debut as he scored 18 points on 9-12 shooting along with 3 assists and 3 steals.
1 point- Jordan Birtwhistle- Birtwhistle top scored with 19 points, including 5 3 pointers in 26 minutes.

Great win mate, puts us in a good position of potentially qualifying if we can manage to beat Bosnia.

Also, quick shoutout to Arrows - thanks for the detailed write ups and keeping all the community informed.