March madness has hit at Jesmond Park Academy as the basketball season starts to come to a close with the final fixtures of the various competitions coming thick and fast.
The U19’s finished the season unbeaten winning their Newcastle Schools final against RGS on Friday night. In a relatively comfortable final JPA lead from Tip to buzzer with a composed performance. The boys move the ball well and shot particularly well under the pressure of playing on the show court at the Vertu Motors Arena directly before the Newcastle Eagles home fixture. Particularly impressive performances in this game from Riley and Will.
Our U16’s were made to work somewhat harder against a very competitive Dame Allen side who came back from a four point deficit to take the game into overtime. With only seconds to play a fantastic defensive stand by Ben allowed Harry to go coast to coast for a game winning basket. That final play meant that the U16s also completed their 2024/25 season in the Newcastle School league undefeated. There were great contributions all round in a very balanced team performance, some outstanding rebounding from Nye and excellent shooting from Ben were the highlights.
JPA U16s were selected to represent Newcastle in the Tyne and Wear games. This is a competition that brings together the best sides from Newcastle, Sunderland, North Tyneside, South Tyneside and Gateshead. Across a busy schedule the boys managed to win all of their group games before dispatching Whitley Bay in the semi-final and then their old adversaries Dame Allen in the final to be crowned Tyne and Wear champions on top of their Newcastle victory. Fantastic leadership from Ben and Harry to see the team through some tight situations throughout the day.
This week the team travels further afield to take on Didsbury High School in the last 32 of the National Schools Competition – best of luck!