By Konstantinos Lianos
In a match that could have gone either way, KU men’s basketball team defeated Chichester’s firsts 94-83 on overtime and pushed Emman Davies’s team from the top of the league.
The Cougars showed amazing effort in front of their home crowd in Kingston College Arena, and managed to end Chichester’s undefeated streak with an unbelievable performance by Andrej Purkevic as well as Jamie Sercombe and Darragh Ayres.
Purkevic said: “It feels great, I didn’t know that I was going to play very well but the whole team helped me a lot and that’s why we won.
“We are going to win every single game in this league.”
Strong first half
Kingston started the first half strongly with Ayres scoring 13 points, dominating on rebounds and also blocking the opponents’ shots three times, which brought the crowd to their feet.
An impressive dunk by Purkevic in the first period and a remarkable three pointer by shooting guard Ralph Cabanlig added to the highlights of the first half that ended 45-26.
The second half, however, was a different story as coach Davies and Chichester’s Alex Barbary as well as Tarel Jefferies found ways to counter Kingston’s game plan and finished the third quarter with a score of 59-53.
Overtime
Twelve points from Barbary and a lot of mistakes from Kingston took the game to overtime after a 76-76 draw. Purkevic scored a two pointer after the buzzard which did not count.
However, Kingston was able to get the victory with the help of Purkevic and Sercombe who scored 28 and 16 points in the game respectively.
Played as a team
Kingston’s captain, Alex Polis, said that this was the first time the Cougars played as a team, something that he considers an even bigger accomplishment than winning the game.
He recognised their opponents’ great effort but believes that if the team plays the same way on the upcoming fixtures they can win against anyone in the league.
Kingston Cougars are now on second place of the league following Reading, firsts.
Jade Oates
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Emma Farr