Wesnesday night is game night at Shuttleworth College for the LBA U16 Summer League Burnley was hosting the mighty Preston Pride who took on court an England International, Bradley Fisher. Burnley was without injured Elliott Morton, he broke his arm and will be off for at least 6 weeks and Preston was with a full sqaud and with Fisher, just back from the USA after 1 year of scholarship playing basketball.
Despite that Burnley and Preston were almost evenly matched in the first quarter, with Burnley leaving at the start Alex Hall on the bench. Score after 10 minutes of an intense game was 21-15 for the travelling team. The second quarter saw Preston putting even more pressure on Burnley and despite having on court several joung players and running the bench, Burnley was keeping the ball well and scoring good baskets.
Trouble was when missing to score, Preston with Fisher, close to 7 feet tall, was catching all the defensive rebounds and converting all the offensive one as well, leaving Burnley unable to get near the ball. Burnley looked sharp at times but Preston height advantage was too mch for the locals. Athalf time Preston was leading 41-28.
The third quarter follow the same pattern as the two previous ones with Preston dominating the boards and Burnley trying to catch them up. In the forth quarter Burnley offence became erratic and sloppy helping Preston Pride to gain more and more possession of the ball and converting most of their chances in offense.
End result saw Preston pride winning 101-44.Coach Minozzi commented at the end: Fair play to Pride, they came here with a very strong team and with an England International. We are building the new squad for next season, all the players that we played tonight will be playing next season U16 National league and, despite loosing the game, I saw some very good moves and an improvement from the last game.
Moreover we have this year a large group of players and we are training very well.
We don't have an England International in our team and we are missing Elliott Morton, a 6 ft 5 player that has demonstarted very good progress since joining in our team.
Preston looked very strong tonight and coach Augustine is doing, as usual, a very good job.

Rossendale was quick off the mark and BUrnley was caught napping at times.
Ben Chicken was scoring easily while Burnley offence was patchy and elaborated.
First quarter ending with a good spell for Burnley with Alex Hall with Rossendale leading 14-8. In the second quarter Burnley started to use the bench and a lot of young and inexperienced players at this level had a lot of court time. Rossendale looked set and settle and were scoring with ease. The second quarter finished with Rossendale ahead 40-14. Burnley coach did not change his plan and let the bench on court to gain experience helped by Sam Snape and Tom Fairbairn. Rossendale was now out of reach for the win on this game and both team started to play better basketball, with passing and cutting, showing discipline and determination. Burnley was still trying to score consistently and sam Snap came to the rescue with a phenomenal third and fourth quarter. At the end Rossendale was the better side and won 77-44 despite Sam Snape scoring 25 points. Burnley coach had to say at the end: we did play well in patches, Sam, Alex and Elliott were tired after playing an U18 friendly an hour earlier. The players coming from the U14 did very well, we have a lot of work to do in the next 2 months and I am sure they will get better.I was really impressed with the discipline and determination that they showed and I am sure we will do well next season with this group.

The Lancashire Basketball Association U16 CVL was in action this wednesday with new team for this league Preston Pride facing Blackburn Bulls. Preston Pride is one the biggest club in Lancashire and it will be nice to see what they can offer to the CVL after playing for many years in the national League North West Conference during the winter season. Certainly Blackburn Bulls did not expect a quick start from Preston and soon they were trailing 13-0 after 4 minutes. The same pattern emerged in the first quarter, Prestpon scoring quick and easy baskets leaving Bulls scratching their heads. At the end of the first quarter Preston was in a commanding lead, 35-5. Bulls looks without ideas, all the passes were rushed and they made a lot of mistakes under the baskets despite having Elliott Morton playing for them despite training training for Burnley in recent weeks. Preston looks once again in the second quarter in control of the game, coach Augustine used all the players and rotate them very skillfully. Bulls started at the end of the second quarter to find their range of passes and they scored a couple of baskets at end the second quarter but they were loosing 15-53. Preston looked very fit and strong and they dominated the third quarter, Blackburn Bulls only capable to score 6 points in this quarter. The fourth quarter looked set the same way, Bulls tried their best to close the gap but Preston was now away in the distance. Final score Preston 101- Blackburn Bulls 27. Coach Broderick said at the end We were blown away by the cynical play and finish from Preston Pride. we did not move in offence and we were not capable to to defende against them, they looked prganised, precise and very strong. We will need to work much harder next time to try to match them.

The final fo this season LBA U16 CVL has arrived, Burnley and Blackburn Bulls won the semis and reached the final.

Wednesday 27th of April saw an unexcpected number of supporters at Shuttleworth College to watch the final of the Lancashire Basketball Association U16 CVL. The atmophere was tense from the start with Burnley and the Bulls tradin basketas. Defences were all over the places and a lot of mistakes were made from both sides. End of the first quarter score was level 11-11 and the play wasn't that good. In the second quarter Bulls were once again all out trying to outscore Burnley, Jordan Green and Alex Hall started getting into the groove in offence and Sam Postlethwaite contribution under the boards looked impressive. After 5 minutes in the second quarter Burnley made a couple of substitutions relegating Sam Snape and Tom Fairbairn to the bench to rest letting Alex Fry and Liam Holt loose on court. Both young players demonstrated discipline and vigour and play really well and collected. Bulls were all over Burnl;ey and at the end of the second quarter were ahead 30-28. Burnley started the third quarter with the same personell as they finished the second still with Snape and Fairbairn on the bench. After a couple of minutes Coach Minozzi called upon the 2 players to get on court and show what they have. The Burnley boys reacted straight away and looked impressive. Bulls tried to contain Burnley surge but the clinical finish and the physical freshness of Smape and Fairbairn gave Burnley the upper hand. End of the third quarter Burnley was leading 47-40, looking in a very commanding position. The fourth quarter saw Bulls trying their best to close the gap, they starting pressing Burnley. Burnley looked still in control of the game and they cruised to the final whistle winning 60-56.

Michael Salisbury, PE at darwen vale and coach for the basketball team had to say "the main difference between our teams and Burnley was just the ability to convert shots/chances. The boys have not trained very much or played many games for some weeks now and that was proven in our missed chances. Burnley players were more clinical around the basket and thats a credit to them.
We are proud that our school team can compete at club level, for us that is
a big bonus and evidence we are doing something right". Coach Minozzi added, "what a game, Burnley did not play as good as they could, maybe nervous. Some of the players are tired after a long season and we were missing a couple as well. Overall the best team won, just. I am very happy for the players, they deserve it after a gruelling season. Blackburn Bulls has established themselves with this group as a very good team in lancashire, they were Champions of the U14 last season with most fo this team and it is not by luck that they reached the finals in the U16 this season. Tom Morgan, Elliot Morton and Corey Knowles are players with some future, but my favourite can only be Mr Chappel, what a determination, watched him during the season and he has improved lots, a good indicator that the staff at darwen Vale is doing a fantastic job. I am proud also that Jordan Green has received the Most Valuable player trophy for this game, he has been outstanding and I have been very privilege to coach him this season. The boy is very skillful, very switched on when playing and he is always playing 110%, no matter who is on the other side of the court. His improvements this season have been greater than expected because he has been training and playing with the senior team and during this season has showed some great performances as an indivdual but also has helped the team to grow and to train at an higher standard".

The U16 CVL is approaching the final games and the final positions in the regular season are vital to have an easy path to the final. Blackpool Lights were against Blackburn Ballers on the 16th of March on court at Shuttleworth and the vibe was elettric. Both teams have been improving during the season and the jousting for position meant a lot for both coaches. Blackpool had a very good start to the match scoring the first 2 baskets while the Ballers were looking a bit asleep. But after a couple of minutes the Ballers started to find their outside shooting against a very static Blackpool defense. The ballers were dominating the boards in defence and able to capitaliseon offence with Blackpool looked stunned . End of the first quarter, Ballers leading 25-12 with Blackpool coach scratching his head to find some momentum and energy. Second quarter saw Blackpool on the offensive showing grit and determination and the Ballers suffering a little bit of lack of concentration. Coach Paul Clarke called a time out and quickly the Ballers started again to grin down Blackpool defense. End of the first half of the match saw Blackpool trailing 23-42. The third and fourth quarter saw Ballers trying to slow the game down while Blackpool was high tempo and trying to press Ballers. Ballers had a moment or two of panic, coach Clarke needed to steady the ship with a couple of time outs and overall Ballers looked now again in command of the game. Blackpool tried everything possible to gain control of the tempo of the game but by now there were too far behind. The game finished with Ballers victorious 72-47 with a very good performance once again of the Khan brothers supported by a very hard working team around them, very well done to Ballers.  

The U16 CVL at Shuttleworth is producing nail biting games all the times. Blackburn Ballers were taking city rivals Blackburn Bulls this Wednesday. Bulls were coming from a win against Blackpool and they were looking to see if they could do the double. ballers have been improving since the start of the league and the Khan brothers looked in fine form. The first quarter saw Bulls scoring the first basket but the Ballers were in charge for most fo the quarter. A very sharp Scott Stirling made the difference in this quarter and score 2 imprtant baskets just at the end of the quarter taking bull ahead 15-12 after 10 minutes. The second quarter saw Stirling still dominating the Bulls offence and Aron Khan were unstaoppable for Ballers. The second quarter finished with Bulls ahead  27-23. The third quarter saw the Ballers scoring the first few baskets but they looked tired in defence and rushing too much on offence. Bulls stamina gave them a little extra during this quarter and thanks to a very effective Elliott Morton, they pulled away and were ahead at the end of the this quarter 40-29, Ballers having only scored 6 point in 10 minutes. The fourth quarter was a different affair all together, Ballers trying to regain control of the game and scoring quick baskets while Bulls tried to administrate the game, trying to use all their 24 seconds for the offence. Ballers looked with 5 minutes to the end to catch the Bulls but once again Scott Stirling went on a rampage and scored 3 baskets in quick succession. Final score Bulls 51 - Ballers 41

Coach Minozzi, refs of the game said Ballers are improving every single match, Coach Paul Clarke and John Connell are doing a fantastic job. Bulls had more strenght and depth and can count in 7 players of more or less equal ability. The play offs are 6 weeks away and it will interesting to see which team will come on top of this year U16 CVL.

This week U16 CVL at Shuttleworth College saw a upbeat Blackpool playing against Blackburn Bulls. The Tangerine were looking confident after last week victory against the Ballers. Bulls have been training well in the last couple of weeks and they were ready to go from the start. The game started with Bulls in control while Blackpool were looking rushed without any composure. Bulls seized the opportunity and lead after the first quarter 20-14. Blackpool tried their best to close the gap in the second quarter, Bulls with Tom Morgan taking charge of the offence and dictating the pace of the game. Bulls were stretching their lead and, thanks to a very good defence, they were capable to be ahead 28-25 after the second quarter. The seasider looked a different team in the third quarter, with Marcus Shield and Cameron Thorpe scoring the most and giving Blackpool a remarkable lift. Bulls were stunned by the Tangerine vigour and precision and they started to miss easy chances with onnly Elliott Morton able to score a couple of baskets. At the end of a very intense third quarter, the game was on balance with the score 47-44 for the Bulls, all to be played for in the last quarter. The pubblic were not disappointed at all. After 3 minutes the score was neck a neck, Bulls were trying to win it with vigour and power, Blackpool pressing the ball and nice, neat offence. But Bulls had more nenrgy, Blackpool were tired and very static in defence, Bulls were capable to get second chances in offence and stealing the ball a couple of times in defence. Tom Morgan once again was guiding the Bulls out of the Tangerine press and able to set easy chances for his team. The end result, after a fantastic game, saw Bulls winning 63-59. Coach Minozzi had to say at the end: what a game, end to end, we could not see until the last minute who was going to win it. Tom Morgan in the Bulls did make the difference for them but Cameron Thorpe of Blackpool socred an impressive 33 points tonight. I am still impressed by Marcus Shields performance, he played as good as last week and I was impressed with Adeel Hussain from the Bulls, what a performance. The standard of the league is improving and a weekly competition is what it is required for this age group. Most of these players have the potential to improve and enjoy basketball for years to come

Another match of the LBA U16 CVL was played on wednesday and saw Burnley vs Blackburn Bulls. Despite loosing 2 game at week end, Burnley had trained quite well on Tuesdays and the lads were looking forward to a CVL game. Coach Minozzi decided to alternate Jordan Green and Alex Hall during this match to give more space to the younger members of the team and welcome, for the first time in a competitive match, new player Thabo Ntini. Burnley started the first quarter very strong, very high tempo in offence and very aggresive on defence. Bulls strated to defend man to man while Burnley decided to play man to man against the ball with the rest of the team playing zone, a different tactic to save players energies. Burnley took advantage straight from the off of a quite subdue Bulls and they were ahead 13 points at the end of the first quarter. With Sam Snape at home with chicken pocks, Tom Fairnbairn and Paul Blanchard were playing point guard. The second quarter saw Alex Hall on court while Jordan Green was cheering from the bench. Despite the change, Burnley was still in command of the game and Tom Fairnbairn was dictated the pace of the game with authority and poise. At the end of the second quarter, Burnley was well ahead by 24 points, 31-15. In the third quarter Blackburn Bulls got back into the game, starting scoring from range and inside thanks to Adden Hussain and Corey Knowles. Knowles was making his presence count under the basket, grabbing lots of rebounds while Burnley was looking a little tired. A time out from the Burnley bench to get Burnley a little rest, a change of a couple of players to rest the more tired ones and Burnley was back into the game. Thabo Ntini and Aidan Buffey great efforts in defence and offence gave a lift to the locals but Blackburn Bulls did not give up and the third quarter finished with Burnley still ahead 51-23. The fourth quarter saw once again Bulls trying their best and scoring well and defending even better. Burnley was looking tired now and deservely Bulls won the fourth quarter 16-12, with a final score Burnley 63 - Blackburn Bulls 39. Coach Minozzi commented at the end of the match: Burnley played well, some of the players are tired, it has been a long season so far and we have at least another couple of months ahead. We train at least 3 times a week and the real difference between us and Blackburn Bulls has been tonight the organisation in offence and defence. I ma happy to have a new player in the squad Thabo, he has been training with us on and off for the last year or so, and he has got the potential to be a good player if he wants. Also Aidan Buffey has played tonight, he is only 13 and he is one of our best players in the U14. He is growing in confidence and he is fitting well with the rest of the U16 and I gave him as much time as he could play tonight. But in my opinion, the best player tonight is Aron Cowgill, he is always poised, always carry out his duties on court without any fuss and he is always there to encourage from the bench and love to be part of this group. He is also liked by the other team members and he is always giving 100% in training and during games. If anyone fancy to play basketball in Burnley, any age and ability, please come to St Peter Centre on Saturdays 2.00-4.00 pm and have a chat with one of the coaches, we cater for children and adults.

Last wednesday another match of the LBA U16 CVL was played and saw Burnley vs Blackburn Ballers. Burnley was on a high after beating Blackpool in the CVL and away in the National League U16 and they were looking to make 3 out of 3. Ballers came to Shuttleworth College after a very good spell in training and in a confident mood. Burnley was straight from the off playing a very aggressive man to man defence while Ballers decided for a 2-1-2 zone defence. Burnley was very organised in offence moving the ball quickly and scoring efficiently and extremely tough on defence showing that the hard training is paying dividends. Ballers were shooting very well from outside but lacking of height under the baskets giving Burnley second chances in offence. The match started very quickly, both teams playing a very high tempo. Burnley was a touch more experienced and kept Ballers to a distance. After two quarters Burnley was ahead 37-16 and the defensive work done by all the Burnley team had made a huge difference. In the third quarter Burnley started to feel a little tired and having only 8 players did not help either. Ballers seized the opportunity and strated to claw back scoring an impressive 21 points in this quarter. Coach Minozzi asked for a time out just to have a chat with the boys and try to help them to get their breath back. In the fourth quarter ballers went once again out at full speed but they looked a lit bit erratic and Burnley had the opportunity to score some well passed baskets and open a bigger point gap. End of the game saw Burnley winning 70-41.

Ballers coach Paul Clarke said at the end "The final result was the correct one , ours lads seem to fall apart in the second half, the main reason we lost was poor shot selection, and lack of a thorough structured offence. Our lads had already played a friendly earlier on in the day, and were a little fatigued which did start so show after the first  quarter, Burnley is a much more established  club and that did show throughout, but there are a lot of positives to take from the game which we will continue to work on and develop in training. We are starting to look like a team now and can only improve. Congratulations to Giulio and Burnley on the win and hopefully next time we meet the result will be different" . Coach Minozzi added: Ballers are getting better and better and I am impressed by the constant progression that this team is showing match after match. Coach Clarke, John Connolly and Victoria Singleton should be proud of their work and I am sure this club will be stronger and stronger. As I mentioned a couple of months ago, the Khan brothers are very very good, they are reminding me of our Bolt brothers but younger. Maybe one day they might decide to come and play with our Daz and Dave and it could be interested to see if Daz and Dave would like to becoming mentors for them, they could be very good one day.

On wednesday the 15th Blackburn Ballers were playing Blackburn Bulls in the Lancashire Basketball Association U16 CVL. The Ballers were looking to show improvements since they started training eight week ago. Bulls were looking for a win after being beaten by Burnley and Blackpool. Bulls took charge of the game from the start but Ballers were catching up really fast. The combination between the Khan brothers at the heart of the Ballers game looked very effective but Bulls looked more solid and the inclusion of Tom Morgan is giving the Bulls more balanced and poise. The first quarter saw the Bulls take a early lead and the Ballers were chasing the game from that momentonwards. Joe and Corey Knowles for Bulls were scoring baskets and defending weel while Jordan and Aaron Khan for the Ballers were trying to close the gap. Bulls looked very strong under the boards caatching several rebounds in offence and defence, abling them to have a second chance to score on offense and denying any Ballers chances on the opposite side of the court. The third and fourth quarter saw Tom Morgan taking charge of proceding in the Bulls team and dictating the tempo of the game. The ballers started to get untidy and rushed a number of offences without socring, leaving Bulls open to attack them on fast break and scoring easy lay ups. The end results saw Bulls victrious 66-46 against a very much improved Ballers.

Shuttleworth College hosted another U16 CVL for the Lancashire Basketball Association organised by Burnley Basketball Club. On court Blackburn Bulls was taking on Blackpool Lights. The Bulls were coming back from a last minute defeat against Burnley in their last game and playing against an unknown Blackpool Lights. The seasider looked extremely comfortable on the ball from the off and the first quarter saw a very close affair between the two team with Blackpool coming on top at the end of the first 10 minutes, 10-7. In the second quarter the Bulls were struggling to score and they were very untidy in defence leaving Blackpool to score easy baskets. Blackpool started to impose their poise and organisation and they were ahead  at the half way, Blackpool 26 - Blackburn Bulls 12. The third quarter started straight away with the Bulls forcing the tempo trying to close the gap, Blackpool sat on defence on a zone 1-3-1, looked strong and compose and ready to attack on fast break a rattled Blackburn. The fourth quarter confirmed the early sings and Blackpool dominated the quarter leaving nothing to the Bulls. Final score Blackpool 57 Blackburn Bulls 28. Coach Minozzi from Burnley, organising the CVL had to say This game epitomised what we will see for the rest of the season. Blackpool and Burnley, the 2 established clubs in the CVL U16 will, if they want to, dictate the tempo and the kind of game they want to play against Blackburn Bulls and Blackburn Ballers. Both Ballers and Bulls are newly established and you can see the difference, they have enormous talent but they are not there yet to challenge the established clubs such as Burnley and Blackpool. They have done a tremendous job at both new clubs and I am very happy to see new clubs coming to the CVL.

Burnley only fielded 6 players while the Ballers had a full squad. Burnley started quite well and in a couple of minutes was 4 points up. Blackburn Ballers decided to defend on a zone 2-1-2 and Burnley start struggling to find the range from outside. First quarter saw Ballers up by 8 points with Burnley trying to catch up on offence. Second quarter started with the Ballers pushing hard on offence and stopping Burnley in defence and at the end of the first half Blaares were leading by 15 points. Caoch Minozzi wanted Burnley to win the next two quarters and, if possible, win the game as well. Burnley started to score from outside and to move the ball quicker and more efficiently. As expected the Ballers suffered Burnley 3-2 zone and Burnley all of a sudden was coming back into the game despite only 6 players. Burnley ended the third quarter 8 points behind. The fourth quarter saw the Ballers only fielding one of their best players and Burnley switch the defence from a 3-2 zone to a box and 1, marking their point guard man to man and leaving the rest of the team in a zone. Burnley was capable to get a couple of turnovers and they were now trailing 4 points. The last few minutes of the game both teams were ragged and it was nail biting stuff with offence and defence trying to do their best. For a minute of two, the game was in the balance with both team treading baskets and only 2 points dividing them. At the end of very exciting game the Ballers prevailed 54-53.