Basketball Academy Secure Schools Win

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The Sixth Form College Solihull AASE Basketball Academy gained their second straight victory in the Birmingham Schools Competition with a 84-52 victory away at KES.

Jordan Dawes and Michael McKen top scored with 28 points each, while Matthew Bishton (13 points) completing the trio of scorers in double figures.

Dawes and Bishton combined in the first two minutes to take the Academy into an 8-4 lead, but the home side, playing a tough aggressive zone defence and scoring at will on the offence, responded by outscoring Solihull 20-9 to take a 24-17 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The start of the second period saw the home side increase their lead to 13 points at 30-17, forcing Academy Coach Richard Parker to call an early time-out. This seemed to galvanise Solihull, who came out playing tougher defence, enabling them to create easier opportunities at the offensive end and allowing them to reduce the deficit to 30-33 at half-time.

KES started the third stanza with a three pointer, but it was all about the Academy from then on. Scoring from all positions, including five three pointers in the quarter, and keeping the home side to just 11 quarter points, Solihull opened up a 61-44 lead.

The trend continued in the fourth quarter, with the superior fitness and ability of the Academy seeing them close out the game with a 23-8 quarter and the victory. The win takes the Academy to 8-7 for the season.

"KES played tough in the first part of this match," Coach Richard Parker said after the game. "We had four of our starting five players missing with injuries and academic commitments, but our defence was poor inside that period. Once we started to believe then we started to show that our squad has improved and are capable of playing at a good level. We have a big game against Lordswood coming up, which should we win and that would give us the possibility of making the end of season final, something we would like to do."

Those wanting more information about the Academy should contact Richard Parker at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .