The North School Basketball Academy players were fired up for what they knew would be their toughest test to date and the game lived up to expectations. The North got off to a fast start with a 3-point basket on their opening possession by an impressive Awab Elniel; and the early momentum continued throughout the first two quarters with the team executing well on both ends of the floor and going into the half with a 37-19 lead.  An impressive 18 points off of the bench from Academy leading scorer Emmanuel Awuni was a season high for scoring in a half but he was forced to sit out to the start of the third quarter due to foul trouble. The start of the third quarter saw an entirely different game, as Ashford School came out hot and The North struggled to find any rhythm offensively and committed 12 3^rd quarter turnovers which saw a 17 point swing and The North clinging on to a 1 point lead with a quarter to go. The start of the 4^th saw The North step up their defensive efforts and do a better job looking after the ball but they continued to struggle offensively and Ashford School took a 48-47 lead with 4 and a half minutes to go. After calling a timeout, Coach Sunderland reinserted all of his senior players and asked for them to lead the team home. With Emmanuel Awuni once again providing a spark off of the bench, this time defensively; Academy co-captain Nick Crust began to force the issue of offense, making 5 of his final 6 shots and ending the quarter with 10 points (22 for the game) as The North pulled away for a hard fought 61-55 victory. Coach Sunderland said afterwards ‘The leadership from our senior players is what brought us the victory. The impact of Aaron King was significant tonight’.

The North School Basketball Academy go over tactics during a crucial timeout (above).