In a Men’s Division One title defence that went right to the wire, they had long been anticipating Friday night’s decisive duel with oft-claimed ‘super team’ Savills, who entered with an identical record of nine wins from 11.
But the whites ultimately triumphed 72-42 over a Savills outfit that had approached the fray with just six men, missing several players and not least three of their top scorers in Jason Hooper, Saul Falla and Shek Sesay.
With usual captain Hooper relegated to one of many interested spectators packing the Beau Sejour balcony, the blues put up a real fight to hold the champions until half-time, after which the game slipped from their grasp and with it the title.
A massive team effort from Skipton showed just why they have been the dominant side of the last decade.
‘Really pleased with another league title,’ victorious captain Aaron Walden said.
‘Really pleased for the guys and hopefully we can keep the team together for next year.’
The match proved as physical and hotly-contested as could be expected.
Initially, it was Skipton that seemed to hold the upper hand, but deeper into the quarter they struggled to cope with the pressure on offence and could not make their shots drop, allowing their rivals to fire their way to a seven-point lead.
Captain Walden kept his cool and helped get their fightback going. Then a cracking three-pointer from Dan Marriott, so nearly in buzzer-beater territory, sent Skipton into quarter-time with a deficit of just one – 16-15.
The continuation of a terrific team effort – which included an un-retired, lean and mean Michael Beausire excelling on defence and providing welcome height against a side led by Nico Robinson – enabled Skipton to win quarter two and so hit half-time leading 31-27.
Walden’s side stepped up their defensive efforts further in the second half and used this to fuel the scoring endeavours of Marriott and his trusty ally, Harry Gent, who helped propel them forward.
Half-way through quarter three, they were 10 clear, and they would hit the next break leading 51-35.
Blake Carre opened the scoring with a great ‘three’ as Savills commenced their last-ditch comeback efforts, but none of their other players found the basket for the remainder of the quarter.
The result was that Skipton dominated the final stanza 21-7, including a fast-breaking Gent bringing his individual points tally to a game-high 25. Carre topped the pile for Savills on 13.
Walden praised his whole team but also had to credit their opponents for giving it their all in the circumstances.
‘They were missing some of their key players and they could have easily turned up and rolled over, but they played brilliantly tonight,’ he added.
‘Huge effort from all their players considering they had only six players and not necessarily their strongest team.
‘They pushed us right to the end, so fair play to them.
‘I think for us we’ve shown we’re the best defensive team in the league. Offence comes from that and it’s all down to effort and taking ownership of the man.
‘It was a team effort really.’
