Cougars crowned league winners and gain promotion to top division.
Konstantinos Lianos
Kingston Cougars won the league after triumphing over Reading with Jamie Sercombe producing a man of the match performance once more with 30 points.
A packed and rowdy Kingston Arena saw their team realising a year’s goal as a hard fought 89-71 victory sent the Cougars to the top division next season.
Such a good feeling
“It feels great,” said Cougars’ shooting guard Sercombe. “It’s my first year in Kingston and we have won the league.”
Moments before the game started, Kingston showed confidence which was evident in the early minutes and allowed them to create a big lead making Reading’s coach, Robert Cameron, call for a time out.
Made to work
Reading Rockets pushed hard and managed to finish the first period with the score at 21-20. Several mistakes by Kingston left them trailing early on in the second period but they managed to regain the lead thanks to an impressive three pointer by Joe Taylor.
“We had full trust in ourselves,” said Cougars’ captain, Alexandros Geromoschos. “Sometimes you will have a break in your performance but we managed to step up and everyone saw what happened.”
Mistakes in the centre court were evident but Kingston still managed to dominate throughout. Andrejus Purkevic produced the most assists and Darragh Ayres impressed once again with a classy double of 12 points and 12 rebounds.
Rockets’ Alex O’Brien scored all his free throws, but were unlucky as two of their players got injured.
Kingston can achieve the double next week when they play University of East London in the Cup Final.