Arts mauled by Holloway Bears

by Barry de Silva

Basketball – University of the Arts 1s 42 – 63 Royal Holloway ‘Bears’ 1s

(BUCS south eastern conference 3A - 3rd March 2010. City of London Academy.)

A tactically astute Royal Holloway overpowered a spirited University of the Arts (UAL) side at the City of London Academy in the penultimate game of the British University and College Sport basketball season.

The turning point of the game occurred during the third and fourth quarters when the team from Holloway smothered any attacking play from UAL with some aggressive zonal defending.

The Bears, who are reigning University of London Premier League champions, wrestled the ball off the home team and hit UAL on the break with some devastating counter-attacking basketball. Royal Holloway’s point guard Nick Heff profited from this by scoring several three-pointers.

Given the final score you could be forgiven for thinking the visitors had cruised to victory, but it was quite the opposite as some sharp shooting by UAL’s Rallis and Pires rallied their side to an 8-3 lead within the opening five minutes.

At this point, Royal Holloway looked flustered and struggled to cope with the energy and speed of the home team, and by the end of the first quarter UAL had the upper hand with a five-point cushion over their rivals (19-14).

However, as the game went into the second and third periods, Holloway’s technical ability shone through. Romeo MacDonald became a constant thorn in UAL’s fragile defence throughout the game by converting numerous passes from his teammates.

As the final phase of the game began the scoreboard read 29-52 and Arts were praying for a miracle.

UAL gave it their best shot, though, with Pires and Gajda combining on numerous attacks. But with the likes of Balogon and Jeffery standing firm for the Bears, UAL found attacking their opponents’ basket as successful as running through a brick wall.

Coach praises team

As the game petered out, it became a frustrating conclusion for Arts coach, Daniel Rundle, who remained positive in defeat. He said that he was impressed with the work rate of his team in the opening period: “The first quarter was the best basketball we’ve played all season.”

The coach also gave special praise to Pedro Pires who notched up 19 points during the game.  He applauded his opponents, admitting that Royal Holloway were a “very well drilled side” while “this season is the first experience of basketball for most of [our] team.”

As Royal Holloway hammered UAL 90-32 earlier in the season, there were many improvements to be seen in this game. The away win propels them to the top of the conference, leaving UAL just three points above the drop zone.

UAL’s final game of the season sees them travel away to play high flying Thames Valley University 2nd team.


UAL: Pires, Fontes, Wong, Tsui, Nguyen Lu, Adyson, Gajda, Rallis, Karamitsos, Smart.

RHUL: Nkola, Balogon, Anelang, Jeffery, MacDonald, Gil, Heff, Ratteree.


For more statistics on the team and other clubs at UAL, visit: www.bucs.org.uk and follow the ‘fixtures and results’ tab at the top of the screen.