TEES Valley Mohawks Under-16s travelled to an impressive Leeds Carnegie University aware that this would be a tough game against a traditional basketball powerhouse.
This did not faze the juniors who from the early stages of the game dominated at both ends of the court.
Chris Chapman opened the scoring with a fast break after a steal, before James Parkin, Dan Brown and Phil Findlay combined with Chapmanagain to send the young Mohawks on a 10-2 run.
Carnegie struggled to find any rhythm against the tough defence and the first quarter ended with the away team up 26-20.
The second quarter continued in the same manner with the Mohawks dominating defensively and limiting the home team to just nine points while registering 18 of their own.
Oliver Clarke contributed with his first points of the season and some excellent defence while Alex Hanson picked the Carnegie defence apart with some excellent assists and seven points.
The half time break couldn't come quick enough for Leeds who were now trailing 29-44.
The second half started in the same manner, with the Mohawks hitting nine unanswered points. The home team had no answer to the Mohawkstough zone defence and with each member of the team contributing anddistributing the ball well, the team set about demolishing the home team with an 8-21 quarter to end the third 37-65 up.
The fourth quarter gave coach Meek the opportunity to blood some of his less experienced and younger players, but the team ethos was evident throughout.
Rory McCarthy and Joe Alexander fitted straight into the defence and continued to dominate the boards while the young Hamza Askari contributed with a fast break and two steals.
The final score was a convincing 80-55 win for the young Mohawks. Man of the match was Chris Chapman.
Tees Valley Mohawks Under- 18s v York College The Under-18s travelled to York College looking to maintain their good start to the season.
The visiting team struggled initially and allowed York to open thescoring. Despite this the Mohawks galvanised to go on a 14-2 run andestablish an 11-point lead behind some good ball distribution from Jordan Nicholls and good conversions from Tim Mcdonald and Marshall Patterson.
This, however, was short lived with the home team responding with an 8-0 run with four trips to the line. The first quarter ended with the Mohawks up 22-19 but the feeling that this was not going to be aneasy game.
The second quarter confirmed this feeling with the home team goingon a 12-2 run with the only response coming from Shane Beadle.
The half time break was reached with the Mohawks down 33-47 and inneed of a change of tactics. This came with the adoption of a full court press and the strategy seemed to work with the Mohawks making a slight dent in the lead to bring the score to 52-62 at the end of thethird.
The fourth quarter started with back to back 3s from Nicholls before York responded, Beadle was then sent to the line twice to convert three from four attempts to bring the Mohawks within six.
York then dropped six unanswered points to restore their 10 point lead with four minutes to go. The game looked to be slipping away butthe next two minutes belonged to Mohawks with Nicholls hitting two long range 3s followed by two more 3s from Dan Brown and a further three point play from Nicholls.
Yet still York fought back to regain the lead with a minute to play. The Tees Valley team had to fight back again with a long range twofrom Brown to achieve parity and then some great defence to steal the ball and feed Mcdonald for a fast break.
Patterson converted to establish a 3 point lead and the game endedwith Nicholls on the line converting a free throw to complete his 36point haul and complete an 82-79 win.
Man of the match was Jordan Nicholls.
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IMPRESSIVE WINNERS: Tees Valley Mohawks U-16s and, below, man of the match Chris Chapman
