A bare 5 took the game right up to the last second against the only unbeaten side in the league. The five boys performing admirably throughout despite the setbacks faced in the build up of the fixture.
The Henley College put up an incredibly brave performance on Wednesday when they lost out to Bishop Wordsworth School by 74 points to 70. The team only travelled with five players meaning 40 minutes for each of them due to sickness, injury, and academic commitments but the team put up a valiant fight and also almost pulled off a shock victory against the only unbeaten team in the league.
The game started in a very even fashion with both teams scoring well but a 12-2 run to end the first quarter by the home team ensured a 26-17 advantage to BWS.
The second quarter went in similar fashion with both teams trading baskets with Henley hanging on in there as BWS extended their lead by two points at the half time interval as they led 44-33.
It was all change in the third quarter however as the “fab five”, as they were fondly named on the day, found their shooting boots and as they poured in 22 points in the period to reduce the arrears to just three points with ten minutes remaining as they trailed 58-55.
With every member of the Henley team having played every minute in the game, the group were bound to be fatigued but they never gave up despite finding themselves 70-60 down with a few minutes to play. After a timeout, the team responded superbly as they reduced the deficit to four points only to just fall short right at the end of the game after a monumental effort.
After the game, Coach Ben Fisher was really proud of his team’s efforts despite having a chance to win the game. He said,
“With only five guys available for various reasons, arriving only ten minutes before tip-off, and facing a team who had beaten JMA who we’d lost to heavily, everything appeared to be against us but when you play you forget these elements because you re-focus on what’s ahead of you and the guys responded superbly to that.”
“The game for us was awesome; it was competitive, full of learning, but most of all really fun, and to put in the performance we did was memorable but because we are all competitors we were a little disappointed we couldn’t pull off what would have been an incredible victory!”
“Nevertheless, we get back to work tomorrow, look to get the rest of the team healthy and ready, and learn from what was a great game for us.”
Henley are now 2-2 in the league with one further game to play in the pool stages and all to play for at the top of the division.
Here at The Henley College, the sports department and sports team are an important part of making the college what it is. We strive to offer unique, elite sports programmes that are designed to produce the best results possible for students. If you would like to discover more about our sports programmes and clubs that we offer students, please do sign up for the next open event and have the chance to speak to the sport staff in person to see how it can benefit you!
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