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2017-18 EABL Championship Final Preview
- Updated: March 21, 2018
The stage is set for a dramatic showdown between the number one seeds from both their respective conferences as Myerscough College and Barking Abbey will meet in the 2017-18 EABL Championship Final on Thursday at Leicester Arena, Leicester.
Barking Abbey will be looking to defend their title, having gone 13-1 through the regular season, suffering their only defeat in the last game of the year in overtime against Itchen – ending their perfect streak which ran through all of the 2016-17 season.
Meanwhile, Myerscough College also suffered just a single defeat on the year, going 11-1 through the regular season with their only slip up being a 3-point loss to Derby.
Both teams have a history; BA knocked out Myerscough in the Final Four on their way to the Championship last season, meanwhile in 2015, Myerscough knocked out Barking Abbey in the Elite 8 on their way to the National Title.
A number of players are expected to star, with both sides featuring different players who can step up at any time.
BA come into the game with two players having just been named to the All-Conference First Team, in Ade Adebayo (13.3ppg,3.9rpg, 3.3apg, 2.3spg, 1.1bpg) and Caleb Fuller (14.6ppg, 6.0rpg, 2.0apg, 1.9spg), whilst Myerscough will be led by big man and All-Conference First Team player Edoardo Del Cadia (15.4ppg, 11.0rpg, 2.2apg, 2.4spg) and backcourt trio Mate Okros (14.7ppg, 6.1rpg, 1.8apg, 1.2spg), Konrad Kantorski (15.3ppg, 3.1rpg, 2.9apg, 1.2spg) and Callan Low (11.8ppg, 6.1rpg, 2.2apg, 1.3spg).
Myerscough finish the season with the top offensive rating in the league, whilst also being the the league’s best shooting team, with Barking Abbey having the third best offensive rating, as both teams are ranked no. 1 and 2 in points per game. Meanwhile, Barking Abbey also have the second best defensive rating, with Myerscough ranking fourth.
“It feels great be back in the EABL finals and I am sure that we are in for a great game,” Myerscough Head Coach Neal Hopkins said.
“Barking, who come into this as reigning champions have had a dominant season in the East Conference, they have multiple threats through a lot of depth and we are going to have to be at our best to beat them.
“Our guys have had a fantastic season, we have a great chemistry and it has been a pleasure leading them to the final”.
BA Head Coach Lloyd Gardner is also looking forward to the match up:
“Delighted to be back in the EABL Final playing against a team we’ve played previously in this competition; and continuing the trend of whoever wins in our match-up going on to win the Championship,” he said.
“We know that Myerscough are an extremely well coached team, Coach Hopkins does a great job, not just him, but guys like Troy Culley and Mike Bernard also do an excellent job with their programme. We’re looking froward to a good match up between two distinctly different teams.
“Both sides have got good offensive weapons and it will be really interesting to see how the match up of two different styles plays out, in a game that we’re really looking forward to.”
The EABL Championship Final will take place on Thursday March 22 at Leicester Arena at 17:30, and will be live streamed to Facebook on the UniLad page.
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