Tigers 57
Erkenwald 91
There will be no more basketball in the Dawson Avenue gym.
Martin Overare top scored with 26 points.
Tigers' Brian Pittman hit the final shot.
Adrian Leclair hit 25 points.
Eastbury Tigers 2006.
The "table" officials and referee talk it over.
Ornella was Tigers' top scorer with 20 points.
All images Copyright 2006 Peter Horrell
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It was the end of an era for basketball in Barking & Dagenham last week, as the Eastbury Tigers Basketball Club played their final game at the
small gym at the Eastbury School campus at Dawson Avenue. The Club are now looking for new premises after more than 60 years of basketball at Dawson Avenue, as the lower school site closed on February 10.
Fittingly from a historical point of view, the final game was against old rivals Erkenwald, the two sides enjoying the longest rivalry in English basketball, as their matches date back to the formation of the
equivalent of the current Essex Met League in 1947.
Although the result of the final clash at Dawson Avenue, a 91-57 victory for Erkenwald, followed the trend of recent years, the Erks haven't always had the upper hand in the rivalry. Indeed for an 11 year period
from 1946-1956, Eastbury were the pre-eminent junior basketball team in the country as they picked up six National Under 18 Junior titles and were losing finalists on 2 further occasions. Eastbury's six titles is
still a record, one championship clear of the five wins of Whitechapel based East London Royals.
After the respective schools were built in the early 1930's, both Eastbury & Erkenwald Basketball Clubs were formed in the post-war years by ex-pupils returning on leave from their National Service. Eastbury's
dominance of the National Junior scene in the 1940's & 50's has been mirrored by Erkenwald's success in recent years. The Erks picked up runners-up medals in National League Divisions 2 & 3 in the late 90's,
won the National Founders Cup last year, and are currently unbeaten in their quest for a 4th successive Essex Met title.
In the final game at Dawson Avenue, although the home side threatened an upset taking a 19-13 lead at the end of the first quarter on the back of some great outside shooting from Ornella, the Erks youth & athleticism
eventually prevailed. 26 points from forward Martin Overare, 25 points from Canadian guard Adrian Leclair and 21 from player-coach Declan McCusker seeing the Erks home 91-57. With the result decided well before
the end, the only question remained, who would score the final points in the old gym?
After an Erks miss, the Tigers broke down the floor and fate decreed that Brian Pittman, whose association with Eastbury spans 47 years since his first game for the Club as a 14 year old schoolboy in 1959, would
get the final shot. The result......nothing but net, a fitting way to say farewell to the old gym.
Erks scorers:
Overare 26, Leclair 25, McCusker 21, French 15, Williams 4
Eastbury scorers:
Ornella 20, Pittman 12, Ryan 6, Knife 5, Lancaster 4, Aiton 4, Olver 4, Bates 2
Report posted: 13/02/06
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