Marshland High School Basketball teams continued to find success in the second half of the season, the year 7s and 8s won the district tournaments held at Kings Lynn Academy.
It means every age group became district champions this year, the first time ever that the school has won all five, an amazing achievement for the school.
The year 8s went unbeaten winning five games and drawing the other, they beat Springwood, Litcham, KLA, Hammonds and Smithdon and drew with KES. Players of the match went to Jacob Summers, Joe Harris and Makenzie Plitsch. Special mention to Arna Urbanas who also scored 18 points.
The following week the year 7s made it five from five, dominating the tournament winning all five of their games, beating Downham, KES A, KES B, Hammonds and KLA. Players of the tournament went to Thomas Snape who was the best all round player at the event, Adam Lukosevicius whose rebounding was excellent and Kenzie Burton whose movement and shooting was fantastic. Grantas Domkus top scored with 20 points.
As well as success in the district tournaments, both the year 7 and 8 teams have been participating in the JNR NBA which is a nationwide tournament organised by England Basketball. Schools were drafted a NBA Franchise that they then represented, Marshland Year 7s represented the Chicago Bulls and the year 8s the Detroit Pistons.
In the group stages, both teams topped their groups, the year 7s won seven and lost one and the year 8s dominated their group winning all 8. This meant both teams qualified for the regional rounds as top seeds.
In the year 7 competition, Marshland drew Benjamin Britton from Lowestoft in the quarterfinals and beat them comfortably with a 27-10 win.
Players of the match went to Dennis Siurys who was excellent and scored 9 points, James Moore who dribbled around players like they were not there and scored 8 points. Also Adam Lukosevicius who was very good on defence and rebounded superbly.
Their semi-final is at the start of May and will face either Springwood from Kings Lynn or Wollaston High School from Northampton and should they win they will qualify for finals day.
In the year 8 competition, Marshland’s opposition conceded in the quarterfinal so moved into the semi-final against Copleston High School from Ipswich, who are known for being an excellent basketball school. Marshland won an incredible game 44-39 and have qualified for the JNR NBA Eastern Region finals to be held at University of Essex, Colchester Campus on Wednesday 15th May. Players of the match went to Arnas Urbanas who top scored with 26 points and was fantastic; he used his height and power to dominate the game. Secondly, it went to Deanna Boon who scored six points and rebounded and defended superbly. Finally to Joe Harris who scored two three pointers at important times and was brilliant dribbling with the ball.
Each of Marshland’s other teams have been in friendly action, the year 11s won a thrilling game against Litcham 39-38, Donatas Verikas, Marcus Holt and Jaden Carter the players of the match. The year 10s beat KES 20-15, players of the match Tyler Holt and Ben Dear. Finally, the year 9s also beat KES 25-14, players of the match were Riley Carter and Louis Cottrill.
Overall this season, Marshland have played 48 games, winning 43, drawing 2 and losing 3, an incredible record.
Coach Dom Stannard said: “What an amazing season that the school has had, every student that has represented the school has performed outstandingly and we have seen an exceptional level of success.
“I am so very proud of all my players, they have worked so hard, I would also like to thank the year 11 students; Marcus Holt, Anthony Siguardson and Alfie Kirk for all their support with coaching and officiating.
“For all five teams to be crowned district a champion is tremendous and then the added success of both the year 7s and 8s in the JNR NBA is awesome.”
He added: “It is going to be a fantastic day at the JNR NBA finals in May and I would love it if the year 7s could qualify alongside our year 8s.”
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