The University of Chester Men’s Basketball team celebrated a double success this week, as it added the League title to its existing BUCS Cup.
The Men’s First team enjoyed another extremely successful season, winning the BUCS Northern Conference Cup for the second time in as many years and were able to claim the League Championship on the final day of the season.
They faced Sunderland University in the Northern Conference Cup final at Platt Lane Sports Complex, Manchester. The two sides had not met previously, with Chester leading Northern 2A while Sunderland lay 4th place in Northern 3B.
On paper, Chester were the clear favourites having already beaten Bradford 1st, who won Northern 3Bin, in the Semi-Final to reach the final. Chester fulfilled expectations, beating Sunderland 98-56. Watch the Northern Conference Cup Final Highlights.
Chester had to wait until the final day of the season to secure 1st place in BUCS Northern 2A with a win over bottom-placed Bangor University. Chester won emphatically, with the score finishing 124-48.
Their most impressive win came against Lancaster University in Chester’s penultimate league game of the season. Lancaster were leading the league and remained undefeated. They had dealt Chester their only loss of the season beating them by a margin of 42 points. To have any chance of winning the league Chester needed to do the impossible, they needed an 85 point swing, to win the game by 43 points to leapfrog Lancaster.
Chester were able to call on a full team, which was somewhat of a rare occurrence due to suffering numerous injuries throughout the season and employed more aggressive and attacking tactics, knowing they had to make up huge points difference. Chester got off to a perfect start scoring from the first possession, enabling them to set up their full court press, which resulted in a steal and a three-point shot make. Lancaster struggled to score against Chester’s defensive pressure and were unable stop Chester from creating scoring opportunities. Chester ran out with a 51 point win, finishing 97-46, meaning Bangor stood in their way of winning the league on the final day of the season. Check out the highlights!
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