Manchester Basketball are through to the first European Final of the club’s short history, defeating Syntainics MBC 89-86 in the Final Four of the European North Basketball League.

The game was played in front of their opponent’s home crowd, but Manchester fought back from behind to pull off a victory of momentous significance for the Club.

Jordan Johnson led Manchester off the bench with 21 points and was instrumental in the second half, particularly, scoring momentum-building baskets to mount a charge into the lead.

Max Jones kept the team in contention early as they stared down a 14-point deficit, scoring 16 first-half points. Duke Shelton got the team over the line with 10 pivotal points in the final quarter.

Manchester trailed for the vast majority of the game, but showed limitless fight and determination to snatch the win come the final buzzer. Tim Adetukasi and Gabe Osabuohien scored the all-important points at the foul line in the dying seconds to book Manchester’s place in the final.

There, they will take on Polish side Dziki Warszawa the very next day, hoping to bring European silverware back to the North West of England.
Manchester Basketball dig deep to overcome first-half deficit

A wall of yellow met Manchester in support of the home team, and fell into a 14-point hole in the first half thanks to a difficult shooting start. But they hung tough, dug their nails in and battled back.

They turned to their spark plug, Johnson, to gather some momentum after falling down big. Johnson has been so critical to Manchester’s success off the bench all season, and he took the lid off the basket with an and-one play.

Jones followed up with a triple to force a timeout from their opponents, but it didn’t stem the Manchester tide. Jones, who took over the game to score 16 in the first half, hit a three with 37 seconds left before the break to cut it to four.

MBC responded with a three from Nemanja Djurisic. The sides entered the break with the score 49-42. Everything was still to play for in the second half.
Tim Adetukasi's triple keeps Manchester in contention

MBC rebuilt their lead to 11 to start the second half, so Manchester reached deep into their bag to reclaim some ground. DJ Mictchell threw down a two-handed jam in transition, Matt Nicholson made a defensive play at the rim, and Johnson drained a three to make the difference just six.

That’s all Johnson needed to catch a hot hand, as the American hit another bomb next time up. For the first time since early in the first, it was a one-score game, and the tie hung on a knife’s edge in the tense minutes that followed.

MBC threatened to pull away for a fourth time, but Adetukasi hit back-to-back corner threes, which kept Manchester in touch going into the all-deciding fourth quarter. With one to play, Manchester trailed 70-66.

Manchester, still knocking on the door, once again turned to Adetukasi to make a momentum-swinging play. He drove hard down the baseline and through heavy contact, made a tough bucket, plus the foul.

Shelton, checking in off the bench, then took over the paint, scoring six points at the rim to keep pace with MBC’s fluid offence. Shelton scored 8 points in five minutes to keep his team in touch. The difference was just one point.

And finally, after three and a half quarters of hanging tough, Manchester took their first lead since the opening minutes of the first through Jones at the foul line. There were three minutes on the clock, and a dramatic finale ensued.
Manchester Basketball seal victory in the clutch

Shelton scored his 10th points of the fourth quarter, again at the rim, in response to an MBC bucket. Adetukasi again got to the rim and made one to put Manchester up 88-86 with under a minute remaining.

Manchester secured another stop, and after pulling down the rebound, Jones fired one up on the buzzer. It hit the side of the rim, but Osabuohien muscled down a rebound and was sent to the line, making one to put the visitors up three with 10 seconds on the clock.

MBC scrambled for a three in the final possession, but missed two attempts, sending Manchester through to the final.

Johnson, who scored a team-high 21 points, said after the game, “I feel like the game changer was us sticking together, knowing what works and what doesn’t. We got down early, but we knew once we got to playing our game, we were going to make a run.”

He continued, “We have to be ready for anything that comes our way. If I have to get my teammates involved through assists, that’s me, but tonight, I had to make a couple shots, the rhythm got going, my rhythm helped my teammates get going, and we came out with the victory.”

“We need to stay level-headed. Watch the film, see why we got down early and limit our mistakes tomorrow to help us come out with the victory.”

They will face Dziki Warszawa in the Final on Thursday, April 23 at 7 pm, in Manchester’s first European final in their young history

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