Islington Panthers lift the Basketball England Sure Shot National Cup after beating Derby Trailblazers

PROUD players from Islington Panthers were jumping for joy on Saturday when they returned to Manchester to clinch more silverware in the Basketball England Sure Shot National Cup.

Competing in the Under-18s men’s final, the Panthers put in a powerhouse display at the National Basketball Performance Centre to seal a commanding 80-68 win against Derby Trailblazers.

Following on from their 2021/22 success at Under-16s level, seven of that group returned this time around to claim Under-18s glory – led by another MVP performance from captain Tyreese Poku-Mensah.

The talented guard was able to score at will throughout his full 40 minutes of action, closing with a game-high 34 points on an efficient 13/20 shooting performance.

“It feels great. Knowing that we were the underdogs and we came out here to play and we achieved what we wanted to do,” said Poku-Mensah. “We’re quite a small team so we had to box out and rebound – that helped us win today.”